MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III denied on Tuesday that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) lost P154 billion due to various forms of fraud over the previous years, as he maintained he is “for zero tolerance on fraud and corruption.”
Duque, who sits as chairman of the PhilHealth Board of Directors, made this remark as he virtually attended the hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole on alleged irregularities in the state insurer.
“I have clarified this before the Blue Ribbon Committee last year, but I will repeat it to set the record straight: there is no such thing as a P154-billion loss,” Duque stressed.
“In fact I am presenting to you this June 10, 2020 letter from COA chairman [Michael] Aguinaldo, confirming that there is no such finding in the published COA annual audit reports,” he added.
Health Sec. Francisco Duque III appears via teleconferencing Tuesday, August 18, before the Committee of the Whole third online hearing on the anomalies in the PhilHealth. Screengrab / Senate PRIB
The Health secretary also pointed out that he is against corruption, as PhilHealth found itself embroiled in various allegations of anomalies in separate investigations of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.
“I would like to state for the record that I am for zero tolerance on fraud and corruption,” said Duque.
He, likewise, assured that there were no funds released yet for the proposed P2.1 billion information technology project of PhilHealth supposedly designed to stem fraud and scams devised by corrupt personnel, as the project is still in the proposal stage.
Duque further went on saying that PhilHealth is not practicing favoritism in the release of funds under its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), an emergency cash advance measure for disasters and calamities, during the coronavirus disease pandemic.
“On the allegations of the ‘palakasan system’ on the release of funds under IRM, we assure you that there is none,” he said.