MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales agrees that the modernization program of the state-run insurance firm should be outsourced as suggested by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.
In an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo on Wednesday, Morales said this is one of the best suggestions raised during the Senate hearing on alleged irregularities in PhilHealth on Tuesday.
“Agree ako dyan pero hindi mangyayari overnight ‘yan. Hindi mangyayari next year ‘yan. Matagal ang proseso na ‘yan. Pero payag ako dyan, tama ‘yan,” he said.
(I agree with that but it will not be completed overnight. It will not happen next year. It will take a long process. But I agree with that suggestion.)
During the Senate hearing, Drilon said the modernization program of PhilHealth should be outsourced after investigations showed that several officials have been allegedly overpricing equipment needed in upgrading the state insurer’s systems.
“If we have a prestigious IT company doing the computerization, then we will just have to pay for the services… without going into these bidding processes embedded with corruption,” Drilon suggested.
The Commission on Audit and PhilHealth’s resident auditors earlier found alleged anomalies in the proposed P2.1 billion information technology project of the firm, including allegedly overpriced equipment and the planned procurement of various equipment worth P734 million which was not contained in the original budget proposal.
PhilHealth is currently subjected to separate investigations of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged irregularities, including those related to its information technology system and Interim Reimbursement Mechanism for COVID-19 patients.