MANILA, Philippines — The two “whistleblowers” in the alleged money-making scheme using government funds for non-existent kidney treatments have applied for inclusion in the government’s Witness Protection Program.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center employee Edwin Roberto and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. official Liezel de Leon filed their application to the program last week.
The WPP is a program under the Justice department and created through Republic Act 6981, "to encourage a person who has witnessed or has knowledge of the commission of a crime to testify before a court or a quasi-judicial body, or before an investigating authority, by protecting him from reprisals and from economic dislocation."
Guevarra however stressed that they applied only for the provisional witness protection program.
He also said that he instructed the WPP to “expedite the resolution, one way or another.”
Estafa, falsification charge
The Department of Justice earlier charged Roberto and De Leon, as well as WellMed co-owner Brian Sy, on charges of complex crime of estafa through falsification of official documents.
According to the NBI's complaint, Roberto narrated in his sworn affidavit that on March 30, 2016, Sy ordered him "to try to charge a dialysis billing amounting to P2,600 PhilHealth claims of dead individuals."
READ: DOJ indicts WellMed owner on estafa, falsification of docs over illegal kidney treatments
"Because of such, he [Roberto] instructed de Leon to generate PhilHealth Benefit Eligibility Form coming from the PhilHealth Portal together with the Claim Form 2 and Member's Data Record," the complaint read.
Roberto also alleged that prior to his resignation in March 2018, "a total amount of P600,000 composing 200 dialysis sessions were settled by PhilHealth to WellMed Dialysis & Laboratory Center Corporation."