PACC investigation on PhilHealth ‘far from over,’ says exec

MANILA, Philippines — The investigation being conducted by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on alleged corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is “far from over” even as President Rodrigo Duterte already approved the filing of cases against several officials of the state-run firm.

PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said this Tuesday, adding that the anti-corruption body is still pursuing other leads based on the evidence it has collected against officials of the state insurer.

Belgica noted that an investigation should not be hastened so that the information gathered can be properly analyzed, and so that all those responsible for the alleged irregularities can be held liable.

“Although the President has given us 30 days for a comprehensive report, to which we have complied, hindi pa po tapos ang aming imbestigasyon sa PACC (our investigation at PACC is not yet over),” he said in a statement.

He assured that all PACC reports will be given to the President.

“Lahat ng findings namin ay isusumite ng PACC sa Pangulo. Lahat iimbestigahan, walang lalagpasan,” he added.

(All findings will be submitted by PACC to the President. Everyone will be investigated.)

“Tulad nga po ng sinabi niya, andami pa po naming natuklasan na problema sa Philhealth. ‘Yung accounting system nila may problema din. ‘Yung IT system naman, hindi lang pala fraud validation ang problema. Kaya kailangang hukayin talaga para makita lahat ng butas,” he added.

(Like what he said, we have discovered other problems in PhilHealth. There is a problem with the accounting system. The problem with their IT system is not just about fraud validation. That’s why we really need to dig deeper into this to see the loopholes.)

PACC initially recommended the firing or filing of cases against 36 officials of PhilHealth as it submitted the initial findings of its investigation to the Office of the President.

Duterte earlier approved the recommendation of the Task Force PhilHealth to file criminal and administrative cases against former PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales and several other officials over alleged irregularities in the agency.

Aside from Morales, among those who will be charged criminally and administratively are Senior Vice President Jovita Aragona, officer-in-charge Calixto Gabuya Jr., SVP Renato Limsiaco, SVP Israel Francis Pargas, COO Arnel de Jesus, and division chief Bobby Crisostomo.

Allegations of irregularities hurled against PhilHealth include those involved in the procurement of alleged overpriced IT equipment; the supposedly questionable release of funds under its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism; and the alleged manipulation of the corporation’s financial status.