THE ALLIANCE OF Health Workers asked the Office of the Ombudsman to probe the frivolous junket trip last May 17 to 23 to Switzerland of Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and Undersecretary Albert Francis Domingo using public funds which were direly needed for the health needs of many indigent patients.
Herbosa and Domingo misused public funds for personal luxury during their trip to Geneva to attend the 79th World Health Assembly.
The AHW, in a complaint, said Herbosa issued Department Personnel Order No. 2026-2590 upgrading Domingo’s travel entitlement from an international round-trip economy airfare to business class without justifiable reason.
“This is a textbook example of a public official bleeding the government dry for personal comfort. There is no operational necessity for an undersecretary to be pampered in business class. An economy seat does not diminish a bureaucrat’s capacity to sit through a conference or represent the country,” Business Mirror quoted the complaint.
The health workers said the decision to use public funds on luxury travel is not just a violation of administrative rules but also “an insult to every struggling Filipino, especially in this time of crisis.”
The complainants said the respondents’ acts are prohibited under Article 25 of the Civil Code.
The said provision specifically states: “Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want or emergency may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institution.”
The complainants also noted that Section 4(h) of R.A. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees strictly commands public officials to “lead modest lives” and “not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious displays of wealth.”
They also want Domingo and Herbosa to be held liable for violation of Section 3 (3) of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by demanding and receiving a luxury flight upgrade which caused financial injury to the government.
“Flying business class on the taxpayer’s money while public hospitals run out of basic medical supplies and paracetamol is a clear, punishable breach of this statutory duty,” the group added.
They stressed that many poor Filipinos are dying of preventable illnesses without seeing a doctor or stepping foot in a functional clinic due to the high cost of hospitalization and skyrocketing prices of medicines.
“While patients beg for medicine, Herbosa and Domingo shamelessly attend a junket abroad fully funded by taxpayers,” the complainants said.
The group added that Herbosa and Domingo may also be held liable for direct violation of Executive Order No. 77 which direct that all official flights of government personnel must be restricted to economy class; defiance of EO No. 110, series of 2026 which strictly orders all agencies to slash operational and fuel expenses by at least 10 percent following the declaration of a State of National Energy Emergency; and contempt of office of the President Memorandum Circular No. 114 and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) National Budget Circular No. 602 which orders the adoption of economy measures to prevent depletion of public funds during a national economic strain.”
“The Alliance of Health Workers, speaking for the silent millions who suffer in our hospitals daily, refuses to tolerate this prodigal wastefulness. High-ranking health officials must not be allowed to live like royalty while the poor die in the gutters,” they stressed.