MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Duque III on Wednesday decried the findings of the Senate's probe into alleged anomalies and corruption within PhilHealth, citing a supposed lack of evidence.
"The Senate made baseless findings on mere allegations. I am for zero tolerance on fraud and corruption," Duque told the House of Representatives, which is conducting its own investigation into the state-run agency.
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The upper chamber on Tuesday bared its recommendation that the Justice Department file charges of malversation, illegal use of public funds,and graft against Duque for the illegal implementation of the IRM, which is meant to help healthcare institutions to continue operations amid calamitous or fortuitous events.
In addition to this, the Senate urged the DOJ to file charges of malversation, violation of Internal Revenue Code and graft against Duque for failure to withhold tax liabilities related to the IRM.
The upper chamber also recommended that the DOJ take legal action against former PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, former Senior Vice Presient (SVP) Rodolfo del Rosario Jr., Executive Vice President Arnel De Jesus, and several other senior vice presidents of the agency.
COVID-19 funds released to hospitals
Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday emphasized Duque's liability for the alleged irregular release of IRM funds, citing his "institutional memory" having served at PhilHealth for almost two decades now.
"Nung nagkaroon ng problema sa implementasyon ng IRM, in position of responsibility na doon si Secretary Duque and therefore would be responsible under the principle of command responsibility," Hontiveros told ANC's "Matters of Fact."
(When problems arose in the implementation of IRM, Secretary Duque held a position of responsibility and therefore would be responsible under the principle of command responsibility.)
She further challenged Duque to disprove allegations that he is the "godfather" of the alleged "mafia" of corrupt executives at PhilHealth.
"He should be the one who sheds the most light on the existence of any and all mafias within the PhilHealth and mafia-like activities conducted by them in order to dismantle them," Hontiveros said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Duque on Wednesday renewed his defense of the IRM, saying that it was implemented early on because it was difficult to assess the gravity of the pandemic at its onset.
The Senate on Tuesday alleged that the IRM was a "void and defective policy," saying "there was no set of criteria" for which healthcare institutions were qualified to receive money from the fund.
In addition to this, the upper chamber called the release of over P14 billion in IRM funds to hospitals from March 25 to June 9 "illegal and invalid," reasoning that the IRM should have only been deemed effective on June 11.
Despite his earlier defense, Duque was sure to distance himself from the IRM's implementation at the onset of the pandemic, telling the House Wednesday that he was preoccupied as chairman of the government's COVID-19 task force.
"I wasn't able to join the study of the [IRM] in the earlier days because of the gravity of my work as [COVID-19 task force] chairman," he said in Filipino.
"Ang aking tinutugunan ay yung mismong paglaki ng bilang ng COVID-19. Talagang napakahirap ng aking trabaho. (What I was focused on was the rising number of COVID-19 [cases.] My job is really so hard."
Senators have also criticized Duque's handling of the COVID-19 crisis as health secretary, with over half of the upper chamber calling for his resignation.