PhilHealth ‘anomalies’ cry for more financial forensic experts — Cayetano

MANILA, Philippines — The alleged anomalies hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) underscores the need for more financial forensics experts in the country, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Tuesday.

Cayetano called on the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to employ more financial forensics experts, especially for “white-collar types of crimes.”

“Pagdating sa paper trail na at sa white-collar na type of crimes, what we need is not the street type of investigators pero yun nga yung mga forensic, financial forensic,” Cayetano told reporters.

(When it comes to the paper trail and white-collar types of crimes, what we need is not the street type of investigators but financial forensics experts.)

Cayetano said that if such anomalies could take place in PhilHealth, then it could also happen in other government financial institutions.

“We have to have an effective watchdog,” Cayetano said.

“Kung nagkaroon ng isang instance of corruption medyo expected na natin yan pero kung totoong months, years na yung corruption dyan at hindi nabubuko, hindi nai-expose, hindi nare-remedy, that’s a very, very big problem,” the Speaker added.

(If there was an instance of corruption, that’s expected but if it’s true that it’s been happening for months, years, and it has not been caught and not given remedy, then that’s a very big problem.)

PhilHealth is currently under investigation in both the House and the Senate over the alleged irregularities within the agency.

In a hearing conducted on Tuesday morning, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, who chairs the House committee on public accounts, said that computed conservatively at 20 percent as set by the COA, PhilHealth has lost P102 billion due to overpayment from 2013 to 2018.

Aside from this, Defensor added that computed at 10 percent, PhilHealth has likewise lost P51.2 billion due to fraud in the same timeframe.

“Tinataya na P153 billion magmula 2013 na nagsimula and case rate to 2018 ang nawalang pondo sa PhilHealth,” Defensor said.

(PhilHealth lost an estimatedP153 billion from 2013 when the case rate started to 2018.) [ac]