MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Saturday said he has full trust and confidence in the Office of the Ombudsman to file charges against all those involved in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) fund mess.
According to Sotto, should the Department of Justice (DOJ) exclude Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and resigned PhilHealth senior vice president for legal sector Rodolfo del Rosario in its further investigation, they will surely be probed by the Office of the Ombudsman.
“I have full trust and confidence with the Ombudsman. Ang tingin ko kung may makalusot sa DOJ, hindi makakalusot sa Ombudsman. Sanay humanap na ika nga’y ikakaso yung mga yon kapag nakakita ng anomalya,” he said over DWIZ, reacting on previous reports that Duque and Del Rosario are not yet “off the hook” as the DOJ investigation is still ongoing.
(I think if the DOJ misses out on any other officials, the Ombudsman will not exclude them. The Ombudsman is experienced in filing cases when it comes to anomalies.)
Sotto previously said he was disappointed with the approval of a recommendation excluding Duque and Del Rosario in the list of charges to be filed against officials supposedly involved in the PhilHealth fund irregularities.
But the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission said the investigation is still continuing as the task force probing the PhilHealth mess only submitted an initial report.
Sotto said he was dumbfounded over the findings because he thought it was the final report of the DOJ-led task force.
“Kasi naman, kaya ko naman nasabi na dumbfounded ako at disappointed ako kaagad kasi hindi naman niya sinabi agad yun eh,” he said.
Sotto leads the Senate Committee of the Whole which recommended the filing of malversation and graft charges against Duque and multiple PhilHealth officials over the irregularities in the release of funds through the agency’s cash advance measure.
Duque has since dismissed the allegations and the move to file charges against him as “baseless.”