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PhilHealth: Fake receipts scam took P1.2M from OFWs


A scam involving fake PhilHealth receipts issued to unsuspecting Overseas Filipino Workers when they paid their insurance premiums stole P1.2 million and not P16 million as a whistleblower claimed, PhilHealth said Thursday.

PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Morales issued the statement in light of graft, dereliction of duty, and related complaints filed against former and current PhilHealth officials over their supposed failure failure to act on the scheme, that ran from 2014 to 2018.

The complaint was filed by lawyer Harry Roque and former PhilHealth employee Ken Sarmiento before the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday morning.

“Contrary to reports that some P16 million were lost due to the said scam, PhilHealth has verified a total of P1.2 million worth of contributions that are with fake receipts,” Morales said.

Of the said amount, Morales said, PhilHealth was able to recover P430,000 from the manning agencies responsible for issuing fake PhilHealth premium receipts and recovery efforts are still in place.

“The balance [of the P1.2 million] is in various stages of recovery,” Morales said.

Likewise, Morales said, PhilHealth reported the incident to the National Bureau of Investigation in 2015.

“Since then, it [PhilHealth] has been in constant coordination with the NBI for guidance on the necessary legal actions to take against the perpetrators,” Morales said.

The government insurer has a Memorandum of Agreement with the NBI to file appropriate criminal cases over the issue.

Morales also vowed to step up PhilHealth efforts to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

“PhilHealth is further strengthening its IT system as well as its coordination with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for a mechanism that will assure OFWs that their premium contributions are properly remitted to and accounted for, pursuant to the approval of POEA's Governing Board on the matter in January 2019,” he said. — BM, GMA News

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