Lacson says leaking roof in PhilHealth Ilocos Region office not of ‘natural cause’

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday said leaks on the roof of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) Ilocos Region office, which caused important documents and records to be water damaged, do not appear to be of “natural causes.”

“May mga indikasyon na ito hindi natural ang cause or causes. Ang report, habang nagsasagawa sila ng inventory, pagsasaliksik ng dokumento, nagtuluan. Ang tinamaan ng tulo, ang IT department at sa accounting,” Lacson said over radio station DWIZ.

(There were indications the roof leak was not due to natural cause or causes. The report was while they were doing inventory, the leaks occurred. The leaks affected the IT and accounting departments.)

Lacson said PhilHealth personnel only moved in the newly occupied building last December.

“Kaya pinagtataka natin kamo-move in lang nila noong December 2019, bakit mag-leak kaagad? Bago ang kisame,” the senator raised.

(That’s why I was wondering why would it leak if the roof was new, and the personnel only moved in last December 2019.)

The senator added that even the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) personnel, who were also at the regional office to examine the records, were surprised when the leak happened.

“Bakit biglang nag leak? Kung nakita ninyo ang video, bago ang ceiling,” he said.

(A video of the incident shows the ceiling was new. How come there was a leak?)

Asked if other PhilHealth regional offices also had reports of alleged attempts to ruin documents, Lacson said only the Region 1 office had alerted him.

Several senators, including Lacson, previously expressed fear that the roof damage may have been deliberately done to destroy evidence of massive fraud within PhilHealth, which is now the subject of an investigation by a government task force.

PhilHealth later said that it was open for a probe on the alleged incident, adding that no documents were destroyed when the leak happened.

And as he was asked what should be done to prevent PhilHealth’s important documents from being destroyed, Lacson said: “Ginagawa naman ng (National Bureau of Investigation) NBI, sinecure nila ang regional offices pati ang central office sa Pasig. Magandang hakbang din yan, mabuti rin may report na may tangkang ganoon nang sa ganoon mai-secure ang documents.”

(The NBI has secured the regional offices, as well as the central office in Pasig. That’s a good step, it’s also good that there was a report on the attempt so that the documents are secured.)

/MUF