Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said the management team that will be sent to run the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City is still being put together.

The three-man team is being readied by Undersecretary Margarita Galon, he said.

Galon said, so far, two persons who are not from the CLMMRH are being considered for the committee and a third member is still being sought.

However, the final determination on the composition of the team, and when it will take over the CLMMRH, will be made by Duque, she said.

The takeover is being readied following Duque's approval of the transfer of Dr. Domingo Vega, CLMMRH chief, Dr. Benito Bionat, chief of clinics, and Bryan Baylon, chief administrative officer.

The three will be transferred to regional DOH offices either in the Visayas or Mindanao, not to hospitals, Dr. Robert So, chief executive assistant of the secretary, said.

Meanwhile, he said the legal investigation of the recommendation for the filing of charges against the three CLMMRH officials has started.

Vega, when sought for comment yesterday said "I will not answer through the media, I will meet them in court."

Bionat said the allegations against him on the oxygen bidding are old ones that he had already answered a long time ago. The doctor stressed that he had nothing to do with the alleged anomalous deliveries of the oxygen supply and is consulting his lawyer.

Baylon claimed that there was a cover up in the DOH investigation because the irregularities at the CLMMRH have been going on since 2002 yet, and the health department has not addressed them.

Baylon, who blew the whistle on the alleged anomalies in the purchase of oxygen, scored the probe team's findings for being "biased."

So said, however, that they will be transferred while an investigation on the recommendation for the filing of charges against them is ongoing so as not to influence its outcome.

Whether the transfer will be permanent or temporary will depend on the outcome of the probe, he added.

Agnette Peralta, who headed the Pre-Investigation and Fact Finding Sub Committee of the DOH Integrity Development Committee that investigated CLMMRH, said her team recommended the filing of appropriate charges against Vega, Bionat and Baylon for violation of procurement laws with the DOH Legal Service.

Complaints of excessive and questionable purchases of oxygen at the hospital have been raised at the hospital.

The reassignment of the three is necessary because CLMMRH is "a mess with its top officials fighting among themselves" and a new management team is necessary to ensure proper and efficient operation of the hospital, Peralta said.*CPG

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