MANILA, Philippines — Necessary charges will be filed against erring officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) as various allegations of irregularities hound the state-run agency, Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor said Wednesday.
According to Defensor, the House committees of public accounts and good government and public accountability have already wrapped up its series of joint hearings on the alleged anomalies in PhilHealth.
“As propounded by the members of the committee, we will be filing—probably this will be the first time that the committee will enter into the actual filing of cases, plunder cases or what have you, in coordination with the Department of Justice,” said Defensor, chair of the House committee on public accounts.
“As agreed by members of the committee, tayo po mismo ang kasama po sa pag-file ng kahit anumang kaso na mapag-uusapan with the Department of Justice,” he added.
Following the hearings, Defensor said a technical working group will be formed to consolidate the discussions from the proceedings.
A total of nine hearings were conducted on the various PhilHealth issues such as the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) and case rate system.
Previous issues faced by the agency such as PhilHealth’s reversal of the decision on the case of Perpetual Succour Hospital Inc. in Cebu and the missing contributions of Accenture employees were also tackled.
Also discussed were issues related to the contributions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the IT bidding case linked to PhilHealth.
Further, Defensor said they will be filing a measure giving emergency powers for President Rodrigo Duterte to address issues in PhilHealth.
“As agreed by the committee, we will be filing an Emergency Powers Act. This was done in the past. Marami na po tayong naging precedent na nagkaroon ng isang batas para bigyan ng emergency powers ang isang Pangulo, ang Ehekutibo,” Defensor said.
“Sa kaso ng PhilHealth ngayon, under the leadership of Atty. Dante Gierran, kinakailangan niya na maglagay ng mga personnel, tumulong sa kanya immediately, pwede ring mga kumpanya na umalalay sa kanya sa IT, and so we will give that powers to him and to reorganize PhilHealth as they seem fit,” he added.