By Fernan Angeles
MALACAÑANG sees accuracy on reports that a mafia operating at the state insurance corporation has stolen no less than P15 billion government funds but the President is not about to fire PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales unless there are evidences directly linking him to fraud.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he was convinced by the testimony of former PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer Thorsson Montes Keith who told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the officials of the state insurer stole public funds through fraudulent schemes.
“Perhaps he’s giving us an accurate estimate because he is not the only one who says that,” Roque said in a television interview.
“Someone who is familiar with the pattern of fraud perpetrated in the PhilHealth, I would say that’s convincing because I had another source who said more or less that’s how much money that is being lost annually.”
Among the fraudulent schemes being employed are the cash advances, the use of the interim reimbursement mechanism, and the continuous procurement of IT equipment the agency already has, Keith said at the hearing.
However President Rodrigo Duterte won’t fire PhilHealth’s Morales unless there’s evidence of corruption.
PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales warded off Keith’s accusation of widespread corruption in PhilHealth, adding that Keith’s statements was an offshoot of his frustration after his application for promotion was rejected as he was unqualified for the position.
Morales, however, admitted that PhilHealth could have lost P10.2 billion in 2019 due to fraud and that the amount could go up to P18 billion by next year should the issue remain unaddressed.
“That’s not something that we can digest and we should never digest. We should never accept that even a single peso is lost through corruption,” Roque said.
The Palace official added that the Universal Health Care Act, which he pushed when he was still a congressman, will not be implemented correctly “unless every single peso that the state invests in PhilHealth is used towards providing the people with free medicine and free health care.”
The Senate and the House of Representatives, Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission are conducting separate investigations on the alleged anomalies in PhilHealth.
When asked whether Morales should take a leave of absence or resign amid claims of widespread corruption in the agency.
“That’s really up to him. I am not in the position to tell him what to do. The President has said that he will not fire him unless there is evidence and I think the Senate now is in the process of documenting this evidence,” Roque said.
“At the same time, there is a parallel investigation being conducted by Undersecretary [Jesus Melchor] Quitain.”
Roque added: “I think after the evidence are unearthed, the President will move and do the correct thing.”
Morales took over the leadership of PhilHealth in June last year amid the issue on alleged funding of dialysis treatment for patients who were already deceased.