Francisco Duque

Early life and education Duque earned his high school diploma from Lourdes School of Quezon City in 1974 and his bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1978. He then obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree from the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in 1982. By 2003, indigent enrollment from the NHIP initiative totaled 8 million beneficiaries. President Arroyo presented PhilHealth as a showcase of her administration's successes through the successful enrollment of 5.9 million families or 29,901,890 beneficiaries in the NHIP by 2004. As DOH Secretary, the agency achieved many impressive breakthroughs and milestones regarding public health care that helped DOH earn high approval ratings. During his tenure, the World Health Organization (WHO) cited the Philippines for being one of only three nations that had excellent risk communication strategies against the deadly AH1N1 virus. He was also appointed Presidential Oversight Chair of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). By March 9, 2010, Chairman Duque was named vice-chairman of the Career Executive Service Board (CESB). During his time as CSC Chairman, Duque was pivotal in developing the CSC Roadmap for Development and Reforms for 2010–15, a five-year blueprint that details the priority programs of CSC for the country's 1.4 million civil servants. Duque's other landmark programs included the Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS), Botika Para sa Taumbayan, Contact Center ng Bayan, and the CSC Computerized Examination System or COMEX. Under his chairmanship, the CSC got the highest rating, with 98 percent of clients saying they were satisfied with the services they received from the CSC based on a Pulse Asia survey which covered the period October 24 to November 17, 2011.

GSIS President and second stint as Secretary of Health (2017–2022)

Duque was appointed Chairman of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017. As chairman, he began laying the groundwork for various reforms to strengthen the government corporation. However, barely one year after his appointment to GSIS, President Duterte appointed Duque as DOH Secretary once more. Upon his assumption of office as DOH Secretary on November 6, 2017, he became the first returning health chief of the agency since the reappointment of Health Secretary Paulino Garcia in the 1960s.

Duque, as Health Secretary, has led reforms in improving the information technology system of PhilHealth to safeguard against fraudulent claims and other forms of cybercrime. Duque has also been an outspoken champion for raising vaccination rates among children and youth to combat highly contagious diseases such as polio and measles. He has urged parents, health workers, and local governments to fully participate in the synchronized polio vaccination in order to stop the disease.

Duque moved for the historic passage of two major pieces of legislation – the Universally Accessible, Affordable Quality Medicine Act of 2008 and the Food and Drug Administration Law of 2009.

Conflict of interest allegations On July 29, 2019, in his privilege speech, Senator Panfilo Lacson accused Duque of an alleged conflict of interest as secretary of the Department of Health. Lacson claimed that the companies of Duque's siblings, Doctors' Pharmaceutical (DPI) and Educational and Medical Development Corporation (EMDC), continued to have contracts with government agencies despite Duque taking positions in government. According to Lacson, DPI continued to earn millions of pesos from the government through the lease of an EMDC building for the use of the Philippine Health Corporation Regional Office 1 in Dagupan City. Duque said that when he acquired shares in DPI in 1996, the company already had partnerships with the government. and, as such, there can be no conflict of interest under RA 6713. Lacson said the DPI signed government contracts in 2005, the year Duque was confirmed as health secretary. Also, the lease went to the proper procurement process and the directive of leasing office space is managed by the Regional Vice President of PhilHealth, and not the Board in which he was an ex-officio member. As local transmissions increased and with limited testing capacity, he was criticized for justifying preferential treatment for VIPs and government officials, in violation of his agency's own COVID-19 testing protocols.

In a press briefing held on April 9, 2020, Duque noted that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is "relatively low" compared to other countries, despite limited testing and running contrary to earlier statements released by the Department of Health. His special assistant, Beverly Ho, earlier said in a virtual press briefing that the impact of the ECQ would only be learned by mid-April as it was too early to tell whether it had a role in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that, before the "true picture" of the COVID-19 pandemic could be determined, the testing capacity of the country must first stabilize—meaning it must be able to conduct 8,000 to 10,000 COVID-19 tests a day.

On April 16, 2020, 15 senators filed Senate Resolution No. 362 calling for Duque's immediate resignation for his "failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight, and inefficiency in the performance of his mandate as the secretary of the Department of Health."

On June 5, 2020, Duque blamed the people of his own agency, the Department of Health, over unreleased financial compensation for health workers who died of COVID-19.

On July 31, 2020, Duque reported 38,075 recoveries in a day as an adjustment to include mild and or asymptomatic cases. Following the announcement, the keywords "mass recovery" became a trending topic on Twitter, with over 7,400 tweets as of posting time, with the majority of the posts denouncing the government for allegedly trying to deceive the public. Sorsogon governor and former senator Francis Escudero stated that the change is "only in the Philippines" and is "intolerable and insulting." Escudero also asked President Rodrigo Duterte to fire Duque.

On September 1, 2021, Duque was tagged by a former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer as the "godfather" of the so-called "mafia" during a senate investigation on billion of pesos of Philhealth funds allegedly lost to corruption.

Pharmally scandal case On May 10, 2024, the Ombudsman ordered the filing of Information against Duque III and Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS) head, Lloyd Christopher Lao for violation of section 3(e), Republic Act 3019, the "Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act" on their participation in the Pharmally scandal. It ruled on their irregular transfer of P41 billion of the Department of Health to PS-DBM for the procurement of COVID-19 supplies. The 49-page judgment also ordered them "dismissed them from service, with forfeiture of all their retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from reentering government." On September 30, Duque filed with the Sandiganbayan a Motion to quash the graft charges. In October 2024, the Ombudsman dismissed the administrative charges against Duque III over Pharmally deals for mootness.

Awards and recognition

Most Outstanding Rotary President District 3790 (1993) Outstanding Thomasian Alumnus Leadership (TOTAL) Award in the Field of Government Service (2004) Albertus Magnus Science Award by the UST College of Science for his achievements in Medical Science, Public Health and Stewardship of the National Health Insurance Program (2007)