Cayetano: House may look into govt financial institutions to check if funds are well handled

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alan Peter Cayetano. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano thinks that the investments of financial institutions of the government should also be looked into to make sure that their funds are being handled well amid corruption allegations surrounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

In an interview over radio station DZRH’s “Dos Por Dos” on Friday, Cayetano was first asked if the lower chamber of Congress is still discussing the possibility of giving special powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to fix the PhilHealth mess.

“Sa ngayon wala naman siyang hinihingi na special powers pero tutulong kami na bantayan yung mga papalit at kung paano ito ayusin,” he said.

(For now, he’s not asking for it, but we’ll help in monitoring those who will come in and guide what needs to be fixed.)

It was Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor who said that the House public accounts committee has started to look into the possibility of granting special powers to Duterte.

Cayetano, meanwhile, said: “But ang tingin ko… tingnan na rin natin lahat, SSS (Social Security System), GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), Pag-Ibig, lahat nung mga tinitingnan natin na malaki na napakalaki ng pondo.”

(But for me, we should look into everything, SSS, GSIS, Pag-Ibig, all that institutions that have immense funds.)

He then cited the embattled PhilHealth as an example, saying: “Ang laki ng pera ng PhilHealth, biglang mabubulaga tayo isang umaga na sabihin, ilang buwan na lang o isang taon na lang maba-bankrupt na sila.”

(PhilHealth has a large fund, then one morning they suddenly said that in just a matter of months or maybe a year, they’ll end up bankrupt.)

During a Senate Committee of the Whole hearing, PhilHealth, Acting PhilHealth Senior Vice President, and Concurrent Vice President of Data Protection Officer Nerissa Santiago revealed that the state health insurer’s actuarial life can only last to one year, and warned that PhilHealth may collapse in 2022 should the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) disease persist.

“I think lahat ng itong government [agencies] whether it’s a government financial institution or yung mga may trust fund, Owwa (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration), Pag-Ibig, walang mawawala that we take a quick look and make sure tama investments nila and make sure walang mga scam at maayos ang pagpapatakbo sa kanila,” Cayetano said.

(I think all government agencies, whether it’s a government financial institution or those who have trust funds, the Owwa, Pag-Ibig, there’s nothing to lose if we take a quick look and make sure their investments are right, and make sure there is no scam and the they are doing running things right.)

CFC