PhilHealth probe to push through – Sotto
MANILA, Philippines — The scheduled probe into allegations of “widespread corruption” in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will push through in the upper chamber despite a planned lockdown of the Senate building, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.
“Hearings will not be covered by our ECQ (enhanced community quarantine. Tuloy PhilHealth [tomorrow],” Sotto told reporters in a Viber message on Monday.
The Senate is set to constitute itself into a committee of the whole on Tuesday, August 4, to investigate reports of massive corruption within PhilHealth.
Earlier, a Senate source said a two-week ECQ at the Senate premises is being considered as a show of support for the call of medical frontliners to place the National Capital Region under a similar quarantine status for two weeks.
Sotto is “inclined” to declare the ECQ covering the Senate premises through a motion in Monday afternoon’s plenary session, the source had added.
Following the plea of the medical community, President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the reimposition of stricter lockdown measures in Metro Manila and nearby provinces as the country’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
