MANILA, Philippines — Half of the over P930-million debt owed to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will be settled either this week or by next week, Malacañang said Wednesday.
According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the 50% payment is already a “substantial” portion considering that PhilHealth’s overdue debt nearly costs P1 billion.
“The President has already committed to PhilHealth that it will be paid, and so I think it will be paid, if not this week, then next week at the soonest,” Roque said in an interview over CNN Philippines’ The Source.
He underscored that the humanitarian organization, which has played a key role in the country’s COVID-19 testing, cannot continue functioning unless it reached its cash requirements.
“And that’s why we give utmost priority to settling at least 50%,” Roque said.
“Because it is to the interest of both Red Cross and the country that we continue our PCR testing since the Red Cross is responsible for 25% of all our testings,” he added.
When asked if the PRC agreed to the 50% initial payment arrangement, Roque said: “I believe they did.”
Since October 16, PRC stopped testing arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), passengers in airports and seaports, individuals asking for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests in government swabbing facilities, front-line health and government workers, and others included in the expanded testing guidelines of the Department of Health. The PRC is charging PhilHealth P3,500 for each coronavirus test.
The organization said these services cannot resume until PhilHealth pays its overdue balance of P930.99 million.
READ: Red Cross stops testing over PhilHealth debt
In a taped speech aired Monday night, Duterte assured that the government will settle PhilHealth’s debt to the organization.
“Do not worry, we will pay, it will take time but we will pay. We’ll look for the money… Alam ko na itong bayad na ito, babayaran to in a short while. Do not worry,” Duterte said.
According to Roque, Duterte’s assurance should be enough for the PRC to continue its coronavirus testing services.
READ: Palace: PRC’s COVID tests must proceed as Duterte vows to settle PhilHealth debt
“With the undertaking to pay coming no less than from the President last Monday, I believe Senator Gordon should no longer have any doubts that it will be paid. And I think that assurance should be enough for Red Cross to resume its testing,” he said.
Gordon is the chairman of the PRC.
Since the stop of the Red Cross testings, over 4,000 repatriated OFWs are now stranded in Metro Manila following the delayed release of their swab results.
READ: Over 4K OFWs ‘stranded’ due to testing delay caused by PRC-PhilHealth issue