MANILA, Philippines — The National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) believes that the transactions between the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), particularly on COVID-19 response, are legal, contrary to the allegations of Senator Leila De Lima.
“Ang kontrata po ng PhilHealth at ng Red Cross ay legal sa aming opinyon at walang kahit anong anomalya,” NTF Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon said Wednesday in an online press briefing.
(The contract between PhilHealth and the Red Cross is legal in our opinion and there are no anomalies.)
Dizon likewise expressed confidence Red Cross and PhilHealth, as well as the Department of Health, could explain that the deal is “completely aboveboard.”
Last month, former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer turned whistleblower Thorsson Montes Keith said Senator Richard Gordon, who is also the PRC chairman, could be held liable for the allegedly questionable deal wherein the humanitarian organization received P100 million in advanced payment from PhilHealth for the conduct of COVID-19 tests.
De Lima said Gordon should answer the “allegations of impropriety” against him “for the sake of the Senate and the [PRC].”
Before this, the Inquirer had reported that PhilHealth auditors said the award of P100 million in “mobilization” funds to PRC could have violated the Universal Healthcare (UHC) law and the Red Cross charter.
“[PRC’s] charter only allows them to recover the cost for services rendered, which they have not yet rendered in this case,” the government auditors said.
“However, this can be overlooked due to the very gallant act of [PRC] of taking cognizance of the PCR testing due to the swift accreditation of their laboratories when even some DOH hospitals have not been accredited until now,” they noted.
In defending the deal, Dizon, who was also the government’s designated Testing Czar, emphasized how the PRC helped the country in terms of coronavirus testing, especially during the influx of repatriated Filipino migrant workers.
“Noon pong nagsimula ang ating laban kontra COVID-19, lalo na nung kasagsagan ng Mayo kung saan talagang halos hirap na hirap tayo at hindi natin matest ang libu-libong OFWs na dumating sa Pilipinas mula sa ibang bansa…ang Red Cross lang po ang lab na tumulong sa atin dahil sila lang po ang may kapasidad na magtest,” Dizon said.
(At the start of our fight against COVID-19, especially around May when we were struggling and we could not test the thousands of OFWs who returned to the Philippines from other countries… the Red Cross is the only laboratory that helped us because they are the only one with the capacity to test during that time.) [ac]