MARCOS PHILIPPINES

Appointment of police general as health undersecretary sparks online furor

An image of former PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar joining a border checkpoint manned by the Philippine National Police at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Coconuts Manila

Oct 24, 2022 |

Netizens are fuming over the news that a retired police general and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief has been appointed as an undersecretary to the Department of Health (DOH).

The DOH confirmed on Sunday that Mr. Camilo Cascolan, who served as officer-in-charge of the PNP, was appointed to the post.

“Yes, we confirm the receipt of the appointment papers of Mr. Camilo Cascolan, Atty. Charade Mercado-Grande and several directors,” it said in a statement.

Cascolan was appointed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte to head the PNP in September 2020, but stepped down two months later in November after reaching retirement age.

Cascolan thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for his appointment.

“I’m not a doctor but one doesn’t need to be a doctor to be assigned in DOH. Administration and management will always be a part of every department in government and I believe I will be of big help in this area. What’s important is the government’s program is implemented with the directive of the OIC Sec. DOH,” he said.

Still, his message hardly quelled the ire of Filipinos online, who opposed the appointment of a non-health professional to a top post in the health department. Since Marcos Jr took office in June this year, the president has not appointed a secretary to lead the Department of Health amid the ongoing pandemic.

Medical anthropologist Gideon Lasco said he denounced the appointment of Cascolan to the health bureau.

“Public health is literally a matter of life & death, especially amid COVID, and there are many qualified people, MDs & non-MDs alike, who can take leadership roles in DOH. I denounce the appointment of a police general with zero public health experience as health undersecretary,” he wrote, adding that his appointment was an insult to the “good people in DOH who deserve qualified leadership.”

“Looking [at] his Educational Background he has [not taken] any Medical course. Can please someone explain this to us? Our health system will be pitiful if a police officer will become USec,” another netizen lamented.

Forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun, meanwhile, re-shared a comic strip by Tarantadong Kalbo that illustrated military officers’ inability to combat the virus amid the height of the pandemic in 2020, who were tasked to lead the country’s COVID-19 response then.

Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vegeire continues to lead the DOH as officer-in-charge.