By Fernan Angeles
FAILURE of the embattled Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to submit documents on time has prevented the Commission on Audit (COA) to check the records of the state health insurer.
During a Senate hearing, Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri likewise hinted at a concern raised by the National Bureau of Investigation, which admitted having a hard time accessing the state insurer’s books in line with the ongoing investigation of the executive branch.
COA director Cleotilde Tuazon said it has been the problem of the commission with PhilHealth “ever since.”
“Yan po ang naging problem namin actually sa PhilHealth, they refuse to give documents. Actually, ‘yan po ang naging basis ng qualification namin ng opinion kung bakit disclaimer ang opinion na ibinigay namin sa kanila, because they did not give us the documents and we were not also given full access of the system,” Tuazon said.
“It was only late, late na. May na po noong nabigyan kami, in which case tapos na ’yung audit period namin and we’re in the process na of preparing the Audit Observation Memorandum and the drafting of the report,” she added.
Citing a COA report in 2018, Tuazon said it was observed that Philhealth was not submitting documents to support the contracts that they entered into.
“In fact, may finding pa kami doon, na may nabayaran sila na hindi nabigay sa amin ang documents,” she added.
Even after giving PhilHealth additional time to comply, PhilHealth still failed to submit pertinent documents.
However, PhilHealth senior vice president Renato Limsiaco Jr. said the COA was already given enough access to records.
“Year 2019 po nabigyan na po sila ng access. ‘Yung sinabi po na mga dokumento na binigyan po kami ng pagkakataon, those are documents po sa mga regional offices po natin. During that time nahirapan po ang regional offices na magpadala sa central office dahil sa maiksing panahon,” he said.
It was also in the same hearing that Health Secretary Francisco Duque denied allegation of a whistleblower who pointed at him as the “godfather” of the PhilHealth mafia who allegedly stole over P154 billion through fraudulent claims.