Resigned PhilHealth execs still face raps

MANILA, Philippines — The resignation of the two top officials of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will not shield them from criminal charges for their alleged complicity in the multibillion-peso corruption scandal that had put the state insurer’s financial viability in jeopardy, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales submitted his resignation letter to President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, Malacañang said.

Noting Morales’ failing health, the President had earlier asked Morales to resign, according to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. Morales had informed the Senate that he was undergoing treatment for cancer.

“We are still awaiting President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s further action/instruction on the matter,” said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Besides Morales, lawyer Rodolfo del Rosario Jr. had also tendered his irrevocable resignation as PhilHealth senior vice president for legal sector.

Both officials had made no admission of wrongdoing in connection with the alleged irregularities in the P2-billion PhilHealth information technology project and the use of the P30-billion interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) for COVID-19 patients.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he felt bad for Morales, a fellow graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, after Duterte told him to step down due to his medical condition.

But Lacson told reporters in an online interview the resignation of Morales and Del Rosario “won’t change anything since we have already concluded our investigation.”

Criminal acts

Both former PhilHealth officials may avoid administrative liabilities after leaving the government, Lacson said. “But criminally, they will still be charged … because criminal acts will only be extinguished when these have already been proscribed,” he said.

Lacson said Del Rosario’s decision to quit his post was “one of many reasons to hope for some good things to come” in the multiagency investigation of the Department of Justice.

“The paying members and all taxpayers who contribute to the state health insurance fund surely deserve a break from the cyclical corruption involving its top executives,” he said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, the PhilHealth chair, had accepted Morales’ resignation.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Duque “truly appreciates” what Morales did during his 14 months at the state insurance company, especially given his medical condition.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Morales assured the public that he would continue to cooperate with the various investigations of the alleged irregularities at PhilHealth.

Lifestyle check

He said he had signed a bank secrecy waiver, gave his statement of assets and liabilities and that he and other PhilHealth officials had submitted themselves to a lifestyle check.

“I’m confident that I would be given fair treatment,” said Morales, Mr. Duterte’s fifth PhilHealth chief.

Morales’ immediate predecessor, Roy Ferrer, was forced to resign last year amid the ghost dialysis scandal and other fraud that resulted in up to P154 billion in losses to the state corporation since 2013.

Del Rosario was among more than a dozen former and current PhilHealth officials suspended by the Ombudsman for six months without pay.

“As I cannot afford to be unemployed for the next six months, and understanding that the corporation would need an SVP legal in these trying times, I have tendered my irrevocable resignation. This was a painful decision,” he said in a Facebook post.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said resignation was not an escape from prosecution.

“Otherwise, all one has to do is steal billions (of pesos) and then resign,” Pangilinan said in a Viber message to the Inquirer.

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, Senate health committee chair and Duterte’s most trusted aide, said the public deserved to know what really happened to the funds of the state insurance corporation.

Bottom line

“The bottom line of the whole investigation is to establish the truth, make accountable the culprits and eradicate the deep-rooted, systemic and systematic corruption in the government,” Go said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said asking Morales to resign was “a humanitarian way of saying ‘you’re fired!’”

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said a law should be passed to give the President the authority to reorganize the entire leadership and management of the state insurer based on a “well-studied reorganization plan,” he said.

“What PhilHealth needs now is a top-to-bottom cleansing in order to get rid of individuals who used PhilHealth as their personal ATM,” Drilon said.

He said the government must ensure that those who would be replacing the PhilHealth officials were the “most competent and honest people.”

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said that instead of asking Morales to step down, the President should have fired and prosecuted him.

Duterte made a “lame call” to resign, she said, adding that it “doesn’t do justice” to Morales’ and may have been intended to douse cold water on public outrage over allegations of massive fraud in the state insurer.

She said the President could not just wash his hands clean of the PhilHealth mess, since he signed the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, which entitled PhilHealth to more funds through higher premium contributions from workers’ incomes.

COVID funds

Brosas said it was also Mr. Duterte who “blessed” the rollout of the IRM, an emergency program that allowed PhilHealth to release cash advances to hospitals during natural disasters and other unexpected events, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

But lawmakers discovered last week that hospitals could use the cash advances like a “blank check” or for other uses, including for supplies and salaries, instead of treatment for COVID-19 patients, she said.

“The IRM, as what was revealed, was used to bankroll even non-COVID-19 health services mostly by private healthcare institutions,” the Gabriela lawmaker said.

—With a report from Leila B. Salaverria