PACC wants Morales, others out

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is asking for the immediate removal from “head to foot” of all officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) allegedly involved in corruption and their replacement with officers-in-charge to keep the cash-strapped agency running amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commissioner Greco Belgica of the PACC told the Senate inquiry into alleged corruption at PhilHealth that of all the major cases investigated by the body in the past few years, he found the mess in the state firm as the “worst” in terms of the “thieving” and the “callousness” of some officials.

“Even if we are at the Senate hearing now, the thieving is happening now because the system has not changed. Except when the President removes top officials,” Belgica said in Filipino as he testified before the Senate committee of the whole where all senators are members.

“But removing the head is not enough. Everyone, from the head to the feet involved in corruption, must be removed, charged and punished. They must all be replaced,” he said.

The commissioner said 36 PhilHealth officials are in the initial list of the PACC under investigation, but some 13 to 15 of them are close to being charged before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The inquiry continues to focus on two issues – the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), where favored hospitals were advanced millions of pesos as assistance amid the pandemic, and the apparent P2.1-billion overpricing in the acquisition of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment.

“We have a long list of those we’re investigating… We will file cases only against those who are really guilty. We will not let any of them slip away,” Belgica said.

“Our message to all those at PhilHealth: If you know anything about corruption and you continue to keep silent, then you’re complicit. In the Holy Book, stealing is punishable by death,” he added.

Some P2 billion to P3 billion released by PhilHealth weekly is exposed to corruption, according to Belgica.

The official had earlier estimated that some P153 billion in PhilHealth funds were lost to corruption from 2013 to 2018.

He cited PhilHealth’s ICT system and the legal set up as the main drivers of corruption.

Belgica described the ICT system as “not transparent” and “fragmented despite the billions of pesos spent” for the structure, abetting the many opportunities for both PhilHealth officials and hospitals to make money, like the usual “upcasing” of ailments and “ghost” or fake claimants.

“It’s like you building a house and the one you asked to buy from the hardware colluded with the owner on the prices of the materials, who later collects his commission from the hardware,” he said.

He noted that many public and private institutions, like the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines, have offered to upgrade PhilHealth’s ICT system at no cost to the government.

“But (PhilHealth) did not act on the offers because they (would) lose their source of income. They don’t need an additional P2 billion if they really want a solution,” Belgica said.

He also proposed that PhilHealth’s legal adjudication process be overhauled as the present system has led to the low rate of filing of cases against erring hospitals and healthcare institutions.

Belgica said with many steps – at least five – in resolving claim disputes, there were opportunities for corruption. A complaint starts at the regional office, which forms a fact-finding panel to investigate.

The results of the probe will be turned over to another fact-finding body at the PhilHealth central office, which in turn will submit the results to a prosecution team, if applicable.

The prosecution team will bring the case for arbitration, whose result could be appealable before the PhilHealth board.

Belgica proposed that any legal claim be handled outside PhilHealth.

Morales doing his best

Meanwhile, Morales reiterated that he was doing his best to rid PhilHealth of corruption and improve its system to plug opportunities for leakages and inefficiency, including overhauling its information technology (IT) system.

“I miscalculated the time to have the IT system up and running. One year was not enough, and the budget was inadequate for the job,” Morales told the committee.

The internal anti-corruption mechanisms were inadequate and inappropriate to address the problems at PhilHealth, according to the embattled PhilHealth chief.

“The resources necessary for the transformation of an organization of this size and the mission given to it are not found within the organization,” he said.

Morales vowed that he and other officials will fully cooperate in any investigation even as he called on all concerned to “fully appreciate the magnitude of the job confronting us.”

“And realize that if we succeed, we will directly uplift the lives of every Filipino – 109 million Filipinos. From management, with all humility, we commit hard work, dedication, transparency and full cooperation in this investigation and those of other agencies so we can achieve the goals of Universal Health Care,” he said.