DOJ chief says other ‘big fish’ may still be caught in PhilHealth probe

MANILA, Philippines — The inter-agency task force probing alleged corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is not ruling out the possibility that “some other big fish may be caught,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Monday.

“We have just begun and we’re still uncovering more evidence so who knows if in the future some other big fish may be caught,” Guevarra told senators during a hearing on the proposed P22.5-billion budget of the Department of the Justice (DOJ).

“So we’re not foreclosing the possibility that some other important people may [be implicated],” he added.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), with the endorsement of the DOJ, earlier filed with the Office of the Ombudsman criminal complaint against PhilHealth officials including its former president Ricardo Morales for the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) that provided emergency cash advances for medical facilities during the pandemic.

Some of the P30-billion IRM funds were allegedly released to hospitals that had not treated COVID-19 patients, for which the emergency measure was intended.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III previously said that he was “dumbfounded” that the task force did not recommend the filing of charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who serves as the ex-officio chairman of PhilHealth’s board.

Sotto chairs the Senate Committee of the Whole, which earlier recommended the filing of malversation and graft charges against Duque and several other officials over the allegedly questionable release of billions of funds through PhilHealth’s emergency cash advance measure.

Earlier in the hearing, Guevarra told senators that the task force is eyeing to file more complaints concerning the IRM fund release in the coming days.

EDV