MANILA, Philippines — The two whistleblowers who revealed a clinic’s alleged “ghost dialysis” scam is set to file malversation complaints against officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Incorporation (PhilHealth) before the Ombudsman over the said scam, their lawyer said Friday.
Lawyer Harry Roque, the counsel of Edwin Roberto and Leizel Santos de Leon, however, admitted that filing malversation charges won’t be easy as there is still a pending estafa case against his clients.
“Magsasampa kami ng malversation dito (Ombudsman) pero kinakailangan ma-dismis muna ‘yung kasong nakabinbin for estafa, (We will file malversation complaints before the Ombudsman, however, the estafa case against my clients should be dismissed first),” Roque told reporters in an interview at the Ombudsman.
Roberto and De Leon, who were former employees of WellMed Dialysis Center, were earlier arrested after losing the benefit of the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP), Roque confirmed to the media.
This is because the Regional Trial Court dismissed the case against the dialysis center’s officials for lack of jurisdiction. The case was then refiled at the Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC).
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Roque, however, is optimistic that the estafa charge will be dropped as Ombudsman Samuel Martires himself agreed with him that the estafa case filed against Roberto and De Leon was “wrong.”
“Hindi po estafa yan dahil hindi po pribadong pondo ang nalustay. Ito po ay pera ng taong bayan, ang kaso po dapat ay malversation (That is not estafa be because it’s not the money of a private individual or entity was exploited. This is the money of the people therefore it should be malversation),” the former presidential spokesman said.
He also said he will ask the Ombudsman to put the two whistleblowers under the Witness Protection Program (WPP).
“Sabi naman niya (Martires) pag-aaralan ang testimonya at kung sapat naman ang basehan, bibigyan sila ng immunity ng Ombudsman dahil may ganyang kapangyarihan din ang Ombudsman na magbigay ng immunity (Martires told me that they will study the testimony of the two whistleblowers and if the evidence is sufficient, they will be given immunity as the Ombudsman has that power),” Roque said.