Palace to probe PhilHealth anomalies

Anti-fraud lawyer resigns, cites widespread corruption

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the President will investigate alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., laid bare in a shouting match online among PhilHealth officials that eventually led to the resignation of one of them.

President Duterte ordered yesterday Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain, of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, to conduct a probe on PhilHealth, which is headed by president and CEO Ricardo Morales.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said he received a copy of the resignation letter of PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer Thorrsson Montes Keith.

The Senate, for its part, vowed to launch a “full blown” investigation of PhilHealth and called for the dismissal and prosecution of its erring officials.

A teleconference last Wednesday between Morales and his officials as well as some Cabinet secretaries erupted into heated exchanges over questions concerning the agency’s information technology system.

“We view the allegations of Mr. Keith a serious matter and therefore enjoin him, and other officials, to cooperate with the ongoing investigation,” said Roque.

Keith, in his July 23 resignation letter, said he had strongly opposed the mandatory payment of PhilHealth contribution being proposed for OFWs. He called such arrangement unconstitutional, but now covered under the Universal Health Care Law.

“It is against my personal values to let the OFWs pay for the spillages of PhilHealth,” he said in a letter made public through the Senate media.

Keith cited rampant and patent unfairness in the promotion process, delayed salary and hazard pay and widespread corruption in PhilHealth as among the reasons for his resignation.

In a television interview, Roque said questions over PhilHealth’s P2-billion purchase of an IT system and its allocation of P300 million as reimbursements for COVID-19-related claims from hospitals in the Visayas are among the reported irregularities Malacañang wants investigated.

“This is what I know, there is P2-billion IT purchase and all of the private directors are against it because the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) has not approved the P734 million worth of the component, and some are saying there is an overprice,” Roque said. “That’s just one transaction which is more than P2 billion.”

Roque also said he got wind of information that the management and the private board members are not on good terms.

Citing information he reportedly received from his own contacts within the agency, he said there had been a meeting among PhilHealth officials regarding the conduct of a fair probe on the IT purchase.

“The IT purchase is important to address the mystery that shrouds PhilHealth because it lacks a credible IT system to deter corruption,” Roque said in Filipino.

The Palace, he added, wants to get to the bottom of reports regarding questionable disbursement involving P300 million each for hospitals in the Bicol region and Eastern Visayas despite statistics showing relatively low COVID-19 cases in these facilities.

Full-blown probe

“There must be a full-blown Senate investigation. Allegations and denials abound, therefore diligence is necessary. Where there is smoke, there is fire,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reporters.

An inquiry into allegations of anomalies in PhilHealth will be on top of the Senate’s agenda when Congress opens its second regular session on Monday, with Sen. Panfilo Lacson likely to file a resolution to launch a probe.

Lacson said the recent shouting match at a recent virtual conference between Morales and some board members “says it all.”

“The COVID-19 crisis makes it (alleged corruption) more disgusting and abominable. Needless to say, there is urgency that the Senate has to act on the matter immediately,” he said, adding the figures came from a PhilHealth internal audit report.

He said a Senate inquiry – to be conducted by the committee of the whole – intends to find out how high up in PhilHealth management the reported corruption has reached.

Sen. Bong Go, who chairs the committee on health, lamented that while the chamber has conducted several investigations into alleged anomalies at PhilHealth, corruption claims continue to crop up.

“Enough is enough. I call on the PhilHealth leadership to put a stop to these issues of anomalies within its ranks. Once and for all, shape up or ship out!” Go said in a statement.

“As chair of the Senate committee on health and as co-chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee on the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, we have to ensure the prudent use of PhilHealth funds and guarantee that every Filipino family gets appropriate, accessible, affordable and quality health services while being protected from financial burden due to sickness,” Go said.

Sen. Sonny Angara called for a special audit of PhilHealth funds, largely funded by taxpayers for the implementation of the UHC Law.

“As it is, funds are hardly sufficient and corruption would make this worse and is really criminal,” Angara said.

“This is an unconscionable betrayal of the public trust,” Sen. Joel Villanueva said.

“We cannot ignore the stench of corruption, especially during the pandemic,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the probe must be conducted immediately as P221 billion in public funds must be protected.

“The high degree of corruption within PhilHealth must be stopped. It has reached a level akin to a state of emergency,” Drilon said.

“The administration cannot just sweep it in under the rug. This should be immediately investigated,” he said.

Not surprising

He said he was no longer surprised by the allegations, citing past issues that hounded the agency like “ghost dialysis patients” and “ghost cataract patients.”

It was Drilon who exposed the overpriced COVID-19 test package of PhilHealth last May. His exposé forced the health insurance agency to lower the price from P8,150 to P3,409, saving the Filipino people P9.8 billion.

The health insurance agency also receives a government subsidy of around P71 billion, he noted.

The “widespread corruption” exposed by PhilHealth’s anti-fraud officer should spur the government “to immediately fire, charge with plunder and jail all those involved in anomalies,” Sen. Francis Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan, whose push for the approval of the Filipino-made test kits lowered the price of imported kits by 26 percent, said doing this would prove that government is serious about addressing the COVID-19 crisis.

“This (firing) and strengthening our health system will prove the admin’s sincerity and seriousness to solve the problem of COVID-19. If the Duterte government is serious in prioritizing the safety of the people, it will immediately terminate, charge with plunder and jail all those involved in the PhilHealth anomaly,” Pangilinan said. “This is the real political will we want to see, not fake bluster.”

Sen. Risa Hontiveros also voiced full support for a Senate probe. “The agency must be cleaned up and we must make sure that public funds go to the public,” she said.

The House of Representatives – through the committee on public accounts – will also conduct its own probe on the alleged PhilHealth anomalies.

“Yes, we will investigate. From Day 1, I was warning Gen. Morales about the case studies. It should be actual cost and I told him that it has been a ‘racket’ that was why there was no COA (Commission on Audit) report during the budget hearings,” committee chairman Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor said in a text message to reporters.

“Following the pronouncement of the President, we asked them not to implement collection from OFWs,” he said.— Edu Punay, Paolo Romero