DOH under fire over turtle-egg 'smuggling'

HEALTH Secretary Paulyn Ubial can be charged in court in connection with alleged smuggling of more than 5,000 pieces of marine turtle or pawikan eggs from the Turtle Islands by a medical team from the Department of Health (DoH), according to a cause-oriented group.

Lawyer Restituto Mendoza of the group Action for Good Governance raised the alarm on Thursday in reaction to a recent report that Ubial tried to intervene for and in behalf of Dr. Sangkula Laja and his team from the Tawi-Tawi provincial health office after they were caught in possession of the marine turtle eggs.