Ending weeks of speculation, President Benigno Aquino III has accepted the resignation – effective Friday, Dec. 19 – of Health Secretary Enrique Ona, who had been on leave amid allegations or irregularity in vaccine procurement.
“Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr., informed Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona that the President has accepted his resignation effective today,” was the terse statement issued late Friday afternoon by Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma.
The Palace announcement comes a day after Ona issued a statement defending his work, claiming the government saved more than P200 million in the purchase of Pneumococcal Conjugal Vaccine 10 or PCV-10, a type of vaccine against pneumonia.
Ona’s sworn affidavit submitted on Wednesday to the National Bureau of Investigation said a total of P231.72 million was saved because the government spent only P601.95 million for the PCV-10 compared with the P833.67 million cost of PCV-13.
Ona added that the number of beneficiaries under the PCV-10 also increased, said a Philippines News Agency story.
From the original target of 300,000 beneficiaries, some 432,000 infants were injected with the PCV-10, he said.
Ona argued that as the head of the National Drug Policy Office, his decision to issue a “Certificate of Provisional Exemption” for the PCV-10 was justified.
He said that the PCV-10 was cheaper by $1.00 compared to PCV-13.