Dr. Jose Brittanio Pujalte Jr. takes oath as the new Secretary of Health. He was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. following the resignation of then Health secretary Ted Herbosa. PCO
MANILA — Health advocates have urged the Ombudsman to investigate and preventively suspend acting Health Secretary Jose Pujalte Jr. over his alleged freezing of procurements of tuberculosis (TB) commodities.
The health advocates submitted their request letter to the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday.
They are pushing for the filing of graft against Pujalte. They also want him to be dismissed from public office due to alleged grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service.
“Acting Secretary Pujalte Jr. unilaterally froze all CY (Calendar Year) 2026 TB commodity procurements. While the Acting Secretary sits comfortably in his air-conditioned office playing administrative games, millions of Filipinos are being exposed to an airborne killer,” the advocates stated in their letter.
They noted that the Congress appropriated P3.2 billion for the Department of Health’s (DOH) procurement of anti-TB drugs for 2026. Pujalte, they claimed, “kept the procurement freeze strictly enforced indefinitely.”
Citing whistleblowers, they said the acting chief is supposedly “deliberately stalling the public bidding timeline to buy time for an unnamed favored supplier.”
“Every day Respondent's freeze order remains active brings the nation closer to total stockout, guaranteeing that thousands of patients will be forced off their medication,” they said.
The health advocates said they submitted their letter anonymously to protect the whistleblowers from possible administrative retaliation.
The acting chief was also earlier accused of gambling, which the DOH has denied.
Pujalte is just one month into leading the department as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed him in July to replace Ted Herbosa who resigned over health reasons.
No preventive suspension yet for new DOH chief Pujalte over gambling allegations
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