Senators to NBI: Probe PhilHealth-Ilocos for ‘leaking roof’ that damaged docs
MANILA, Philippines — Several senators on Friday urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the reported leaking roof in one of the regional offices of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) that damaged documents, sensing a possible “cover up” of evidence to “obstruct” ongoing investigations.
It was recently reported that some documents and computers in PhilHealth’s office in the Ilocos Region have been compromised or damaged following a “roof leak.”
In a message to reporters, Senator Panfilo Lacson said he sees “enough reason to suspect that the destruction of documents and records caused by the roof leak…was intentional.”
When the incident was reported to his office, Lacson said he advised the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), which is conducting an investigation into alleged corruption and irregularities within the state insurer, to ask for the assistance of the NBI.
“I advised the lead PACC investigator who was still in the area, [through] a member of my staff to seek the assistance of the NBI to immediately conduct forensics on the damaged portion of the building to determine if force was applied to cause the water leaks,” the senator said.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the NBI should look into whether the damaged roof that leaked water had been deliberately done.
“Yan na nga ba ang sinasabi ko na baka magkaroon nang cover-up. We urge the NBI to get to the bottom of that to see if the roof leak was deliberately done to obstruct the ongoing investigations,” Zubiri said in a separate message to reporters.
(That is what I’m talking about that cover up may happen.)
He also urged the Ombudsman to immediately implement the suspension orders against several PhilHealth executives and appoint “trustworthy” officers-in-charge to ensure that “important documents can be protected.”
For his part, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the so-called PhilHealth mafia seems to have “called on the Cleaners!” to cause that leaking roof.
Aside from the NBI, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go also called the attention of the task force created by President Rodrigo Duterte and led by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into the matter.
“Ayaw kong pangunahan ang kalalabasan ng imbestigasyon, pero dapat malaman kung dulot lang ba talaga ito ng malakas na ulan, may kapabayaan bang naganap, o sadyang hinayaang masira ang mga dokumento,” he added.
(I don’t want to preempt the outcome of the investigation, but it’s better to know whether the damaged record was caused by strong rain, if there was negligence, or a deliberate move to destroy the documents.)
Further, Go scored the management of PhilHealth over the reported roof leak.
“Ang laki laki ng pondo ninyo, tapos hindi niyo mapagawa ang bubong ng isang opisina ninyo!” he said.
(You have a very huge budget and yet you cannot even afford to repair the roof of one of your offices.)
PhilHealth has been embroiled in fresh allegations of corruption after a sitting board member and a resigned anti-fraud officer claimed that a so-called “mafia” in PhilHealth has allegedly been orchestrating large-scale corruption within the corporation for years.
Aside from the probe being conducted by the PACC and the DOJ-led task force, the state insurer is also facing separate corruption investigations in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
