Lacson agrees executive committee is PhilHealth’s ‘mafia’

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson agrees that members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s executive committee composed the so-called mafia in the state-run insurance firm as alleged by its former anti-fraud officer.

“Lumalabas talaga, pangit man sabihin, sila talaga ang mafia. Sa kanila nanggaling, central office. ‘Pag sabi nating central office, execom eh. Sila nag-prepare ng master list sino ang hospitals at HCIs na maunang bigyan,” Lacson said in an interview with dzBB on Sunday.

(Even though it is an ugly thing to say, it really appears that they are the mafia. It comes from them, the central office. When we say central office, it’s the execom. They are the ones who prepare the master list of the hospitals and healthcare institutions that will receive the payments.)

“Uulitin ko, palagay ko ‘di ako nag-iisa sa kaisipang ito, maski April, lumalabas ang nagma-maneuver lahat, at pati overpricing, pati ang pag-operate ng pondo ng PhilHealth, nasa execom. So pwede na natin sabihin, ako base sa mga nabasa kong dokumento, ang mafia nasa execom,” he added.

(I will repeat. I think I am not alone in thinking that even since April, it appears that the one that maneuvers everything, even overpricing and the operation of funds in PhilHealth, is the execom. So we can say, I can say that based on the documents I have read, that the mafia is in the execom.)

During a Senate hearing on August 4, resigned anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith alleged that about P15 billion of PhilHealth funds went to the pockets of a “syndicate” in the state-run firm.

He said that members of the execom composed the so-called mafia that has been defrauding the corporation over the past several years.

PhilHealth has since denied this allegation.

JE