PACC to subpoena hospitals linked to PhilHealth mess

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Anti-Corruption Council  (PACC) said it will be sending subpoenas to hospitals tagged in the alleged irregularities in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said Thursday.

“Magsu-subpoena kami ng lahat red-flagged na ospital na kliyente ng PhilHealth dahil ‘yan, to our opinion dapat muna i-hold ang payment diyan at i-validate. Kasi ‘yun ang pinaka-issue dito, unvalidated claims,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

(We will send subpoenas to red-flagged hospitals that are clients of PhilHealth. We believe that payments for these hospitals should be suspended and validated because the main issue here is unvalidated claims.)

“Ipasa-subpoena namin ngayon ‘yan and we recommend kung red flag ‘yan i-hold muna ang bayad, huwag ilabas, at i-validate natin ang mga singil nila,” he also said.

(We will send subpoenas and we recommend that if we see red flags, the payment should be suspended while we validate claims.)

Citing a Commission on Audit report, Belgica said PhilHealth lost at least P154 billion since 2013 due to overpayments and fraud.

During a Senate hearing, the anti-corruption official earlier noted that up to P3 billion in funds being released by Philhealth are “exposed to corruption.”

PhilHealth is currently the subject of separate investigations in the Senate, House of Representatives, and the PACC for alleged corruption.

/MUF