PhilHealth acting chief to Roque: If you want my post, earn it
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) acting president Dr. Roy Ferrer on Thursday challenged lawyer Harry Roque to “earn” his position if he wants it.
Ferrer made the statement following the expose of two whistleblowers handled by Roque that PhilHealth is paying the claims of deceased patients at a dialysis center.
In a press briefing, Roque said the whistleblowers would file a case against PhilHealth officials over the issue.
Ferrer, however, brushed off the accusations, saying that it is similar to a similar ‘mafia-like’ case in the past where a former PhilHealth was slapped with a lawsuit in a move to make the organization “look bad.”
“They filed a case against this secretary and former president of PhilHealth [so they will] look bad. So that’s why they ended up not being appointed. The other one was changed, and now they are doing the same modus to me,” Ferrer said.
“They are filing complaints, necessary complaints to make me look bad so my appointment will be affected,” he added.
Asked if he believes that the expose and the claims of inaction were attacks against him and PhilHealth, Ferrer said: “It could be [an attack] against me and PhilHealth because of my focus now on anti-fraud and the mandate that was given to me by the President himself and Congress to check on these frauds that are happening.”
“Si Atty Roque, if gusto nya yung upuan ko (Atty. Roque wants my post), [but] he has to earn it. But now I, the acting president and CEO, have to carry out what the President told me to do. Hence, I am seriously cleansing it,” Ferrer said.
He also denied that PhilHealth officials are not acting on the case.
“We are taking this seriously. Sorry, Atty. Roque, I’ve heard it from CNN and you are saying it wrong that we are just sitting down on these cases,” Ferrer said, adding that 28 administrative cases have been filed against the dialysis center.
He said the cases were for non-admittance of patients, misrepresentations, and breach of warranties of accreditations performance.
In a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, Edwin Roberto, a former employee of WellMed Dialysis & Laboratory Center Corp. in Novaliches, Quezon City revealed that PhilHealth had been paying the claims of the dialysis center on behalf of a client who already died. (Editor: Eden Estopace)
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