Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa confirmed that at least three key officials of the Department of Health (DOH) are no longer with the agency.

Former Undersecretaries Maria Rosario Vergeire, Kenneth Ronquillo and Achilles Gerard Bravo, all members of the executive committee are no longer connected with the health department.

Ronquillo was undersecretary for the Universal Health Care (UHC) policy and strategy cluster while Bravo was undersecretary of the internal management cluster. Vergeire, for her part leads the UHC Health Services cluster for Northern and Central Luzon.

Herbosa was informed that the tenure of Vergeire “has expired, effective immediately.”

Asked on whether Vergeire was asked to resign, Herbosa said that he didn’t know.

Last week, Vergeire was invited as the commencement speaker at the Far Eastern University.

In a quote card, she was referred to as a former undersecretary of the DOH.

DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo, in a separate statement, also did not specify the reason behind the exit of their officials.

“Decisions of Execom members leading to their separation from the service (e.g., retirement, resignation, etc.) are personal in nature and treated with the utmost respect as to privacy,” the statement read.

Vergeire was an instrumental figure in the DOH and government’s fight against COVID-19, offering a calm, collected and science-based approach to communicating the health crisis.

Prior to her role in the DOH, she also served as the city health officer of Marikina City.

In the first year of the Marcos Jr. administration, Vergeire held the DOH’s fort as officer-in-charge and nixed calls for her to become secretary.

Her tone changed several months later and said she was ready to lead the agency.

This, however, was followed by the appointment of Herbosa as the health chief.