MANILA, Philippines — More witnesses will blow the whistle regarding allegations of corruption within the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) when the Senate investigates the matter, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Monday.
Sotto earlier filed a resolution with Sen. Panfilo Lacson seeking an inquiry of the whole Senate into issues currently hounding PhilHealth.
Allegations of “widespread corruption” within the state-owned insurer surfaced after a controversial meeting among PhilHealth officials and Cabinet members reportedly led to the resignation of several agency officers.
Among them is resigned anti-fraud legal officer Thorrsson Montes Keith, who accused PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales of being a “coddler or may have been the new leader of the syndicate” preying on the premiums paid by the state insurer’s members.
“The investigation will not just be focusing on one witness. There will be three or four other witnesses and I am now receiving issues from different groups and different associations against the way PhilHealth is being run,” Sotto told reporters in a virtual press conference after the Senate opened the second regular session of the 18th Congress.
“So we have to look into this, we have to look into all of this,” he added.
Sotto said he hopes stronger evidence during the chamber’s investigation of alleged irregularities within PhilHealth could lead to the prosecution of corrupt officials.
“Last time, noong pinaguusapan itong mga issues ng PhilHealth, puro alegasyon na walang ebidensya. Ngayon, ang inaasahan ko sa imbestigasyon ay makukumpleto ang ebidensya at saka ang imbestigasyon ay hindi lamang mase-center sa isa, dalawang issue kundi malawakan,” the senator said.
(Last time, when the Senate investigated issues hounding PhilHealth, all of them were allegations and no evidence. So what we’re expecting this time around are complete pieces of evidence and that it would not only focus on one or two issues, the investigation will cover a lot.)
He then appealed to individuals who have evidence that would prove alleged irregularities in the agency to come forward.
“Yung mga nagrereklamo ay nanawagan tayo ngayon na lumantad at ibigay samin ang iba pang ebidensiya…Kung matibay ang ebidensyang makikita natin, yung mga taong mananagot ay pananagutin natin at nakakaasa ako na ang Pangulo hindi niya pababayaan yon,” he added.
(To individuals who have complains about how PhilHealth is run, please come forward and present evidence to us…If these pieces of evidence are concrete, those who are liable would be held accountable and I’m confident that the President will not let this slide.)
While the prosecution of corrupt officials is what senators “hope to achieve” following the Senate probe, Sotto said the investigation also seeks to find ways to improve how the agency is managed.
“The point of the investigation, as far as we’re concerned and I’m concerned, is that the PhilHealth law and the parameters given to PhilHealth should be clearer,” he said.
“[Para] maisasaayos natin yung batas na nag-create ng PhilHealth upang hindi na maulit yung mga ganitong mga pangyayari at hindi nasasayang ang pera ng taumbayan sapagkat pera nila ito eh. Mahirap na hindi natin talakayin ‘to. This is something we cannot sweep under the rug,” he added.
(For us to fix the law that created PhilHealth so that these kinds of allegations will not happen again and to ensure that the money of the Filipino people is not wasted because this is their money. It’s no question that we really have to tackle this. This is something we cannot sweep under the rug).
The Senate investigation will also focus on three “major issues” within PhilHealth—the implementation of the interim reimbursement mechanism, the information and communication technology equipment worth P734 million flagged by the Commission on Audit, and the alleged manipulation of its “financial status.”
PhilHealth has since said it has “nothing to hide” and that it is ready to respond to the corruption allegations linked to the agency.