House panels to seek DOJ’s guidance on HDO vs PhilHealth execs

MANILA, Philippines — Two House committees approved Tuesday a motion seeking the guidance of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on a possible hold departure order against officers of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.(PhilHealth) amid alleged anomalies hounding the agency.

During the joint hybrid hearing of the House committee on public accounts and the committee on good government and public accountability, Aklan 2nd District Rep. Teodorico Haresco said he had a dream regarding ”three mafias in the private sector and Civil Service Commission.”

This supposed dream led Haresco to initially move for the House panels to ask the DOJ to study the imposition of a hold departure order on all officers of PhilHealth from the regional to the executive committee.

“Yes, hold departure order kasi pagdating ng Power Rangers sa panaginip ko, nagtakbuhan lahat. Nagtakbuhan sa ospital at nagtakbuhan kung saan-saan at saka yung iba ay nag-resign pa sa mafia,” Haresco said.

“Ewan ko kung baka sa sitwasyon na ito, magtakbuhan na rin sa abroad yang mga yan,” he added.

But Cavite 7th District Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla pointed out that the committees should “proceed with caution” with their motion since no case has been filed yet against the PhilHealth officials suspected of being involved in the anomalies in the agency.

“Kung wala pang kaso na fina-file kasi, hindi yata appropriate and it might just unduly alarm people who may not be after all guilty of any offense,” Remulla said.

“So let’s proceed with caution on this matter until we have proof or that we have reason to believe that there is really fraud in the actions of the officers. And let it not be a blanket order that we want to do, only for those that we suspect there to be fraud,” he added.

Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, who chairs the House committee on public accounts, then amended the motion to simply asking the advice and guidance of the DOJ regarding the matter.

“So there’s a motion, duly seconded, to seek guidance from the Department of Justice on the imposition of the hold departure order on the officers of PhilHealth from the regional to the executive committee level,” Defensor said.

The motion was later on approved.

PhilHealth is currently facing probes in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In an earlier hearing, Defensor said that PhilHealth lost an estimated P153.7 billion from 2013 to 2018 due to overpayment and fraud.

Defensor said that computed conservatively at 20 percent as set by COA, the state-run health insurer has lost P102 billion due to overpayment.

Meanwhile, computed at 10 percent, Defensor further noted that PhilHealth has lost P51.2 billion due to fraud.

But in a Senate hearing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who sits as chairman of the PhilHealth Board of Directors, denied that the agency lost P154 billion due to various forms of fraud in the previous years.

/MUF