92% of ‘missing’ P 15-B PhilHealth fund liquidated

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has liquidated about 92 percent of the P15 billion fund allegedly lost to corruption, according to its president Dante Gierran.

“Truth be told, that amount is not lost; it is just there. On record, the Senate and the [House] ordered that it be liquidated. As of now, 92 percent has been liquidated,” Gierran said in a Palace press briefing on Tuesday.

Only a small portion still has to be accounted for, he added.

“I will not allow Filipinos’ money to be lost. I came from the [National Bureau of Investigation]. I will not allow that to happen under me,” said Gierran, a former NBI director.

In August last year, Thorrsson Montes Keith, former PhilHealth antifraud legal officer, claimed that around P15 billion of the state-run health insurer’s funds had been pocketed through fraudulent schemes perpetrated over the years by a “syndicate” composed of members of its executive committee.

Gierran was subsequently appointed to the top post after the agency was bombarded by allegations of fund misuse and other irregularities.

He told reporters that he remained positive he would be able to turn PhilHealth around despite its damaged reputation. At the same time, he urged the public to cooperate and work with them to improve it.

He also discussed complaints from some hospitals about delayed payments from PhilHealth, saying the agency was not always to blame.

Gierran said some applications for payments lacked signatures and data, causing PhilHealth to return them to the hospitals concerned. “Not all claims are good claims,” he said. —With a report from Nestor Corrales INQ