98% of P15-B ‘stolen’ funds already liquidated — PhilHealth

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Saturday said 98 percent of the P15 billion allegedly lost to corruption has already been liquidated.

https://www.facebook.com/PhilHealthofficial/posts/4186001044797876

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, PhilHealth said P14.7 billion have been “allocated” as assistance to 711 hospitals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Napunta ito sa 711 ospital sa bansa biland ayuda sa pandemya, at para manatili silang bukas para sa mga pasyenteng nangangailangan ng gamutan,” the state health insurer said.

(This has been allocated to 711 hospitals nationwide as an assistance to the pandemic, and to maintain them open to patients needing medical care.)

PhilHealth also maintained that the P14.7 billion liquidated funds have been “properly accounted.”

The liquidation of the funds is under PhilHealth’s Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM).

The IRM is PhilHealth’s emergency cash advance measure to provide hospitals with an emergency fund to respond to natural disasters, calamities as well as other unexpected events.

This IRM was temporarily suspended after some senators called to halt payments to hospitals for COVID-19 service amid allegations that the release of funds was marred by irregularities.

A whistleblower, who is a former PhilHealth employee, previously exposed during a Senate hearing that P15 billion of the state insurer’s funds fattened the wallets of a “syndicate” in 2019 alone.

/MUF