PhilHealth chief says 92% of P15B allegedly stolen from coffers has been liquidated

PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran during a Palace briefing on Jan. 26, 2021

MANILA, Phillippines — Ninety-two percent of the P15 billion allegedly lost to fraud in the funds of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has already been liquidated, state insurer chief Dante Gierran said Tuesday.

“On record, ang utos ng Senado at ng lower House, sabi i-liquidate. Sa ngayon, 92% na ang liquidated,” he said in a Palace briefing.

(On record, the Senate and the House have instructed PhilHealth to liquidate the funds. As of now, 92% of the funds has been liquidated.)

“So kaunti na lang. I will not allow na ‘yung pera na mawala, galing ako sa NBI, hindi pwede mangyari ‘yan,” Gierran added.

(I will not allow the money to be lost.)

In August last year, a former PhilHealth official claimed that some P15 billion from the agency has been pocketed by the state insurer’s officials through different fraudulent schemes.

Resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer Thorsson Montes Keith claimed all members of PhilHealth’s executive committee composed the “mafia,” which had been allegedly defrauding the corporation for the past several years.

He referred to the “syndicate-like” implementation of interim reimbursement mechanism, the procurement of “overpriced” information and communication technology equipment.

EDV