Lacson: No other course for Morales but to resign if he can't refute PhilHealth corruption claims

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president and CEO Ricardo Morales has no other course but to step down from his position if he cannot credibly refute the allegations of "widespread corruption" within the state health insurer, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Sunday.

Lacson made the remark as he intends to file on Monday the Senate resolution seeking an investigation into the alleged anomalies involving PhilHealth.

"Unless ma-refute niya ito credibly itong mga alegasyon dito, na sabi ko nga may mga dokumento, walang ibang dapat puntahan kundi mag-resign. So far, at face value, sasabihin ko totoo ito dahil supported by documents," he said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.

"Pero kung ma-refute niya ito sa pamamagitan din ng mga dokumento at issuances na official din at mabe-break niya 'yung kredibilidad ng mga dokumento na hawak na namin sa ngayon, puwedeng sabihin na naninira lamang itong mga tao," the senator added.

According to Lacson, the Senate resolution to be filed will focus on three major issues on alleged corruption, that is, the anomalous implementation of the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) of PhilHealth, the questionable insertions for the purchase of an ICT equipment worth P734 million, and the supposed manipulation of the agency's financial statement.

He said PhilHealth recently extended the coverage of its IRM to include hospitals with many cases of COVID-19 needing financial assistance.

However, based on documents they obtained, Lacson said PhilHealth had anomalously released a total of P247 million to three hospitals in the Bicol Region and another P196 million to two hospitals in Eastern Visayas, all tertiary level, only weeks after they applied through IRM, and even though they had only one COVID-19 patient.

"Kung parehas lang ang dapat labanan, maski tertiary siya o level 1 'yung hospital at nag-a-accumulate, dapat pareho lamang 'yung treatment. Pero bakit 'yung unaccredited, at meron pang na-release nitong Abril lamang at Mayo?" he said.

Moreover, Lacson also wants to look into the questionable insertions of PhilHealth in the purchase of ICT equipment, which he said has already been flagged by the Commission on Audit.

"Ang description nga rito, flagrantly inserted. Na-approve na ng DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) 'yung budget na para doon sa PhilHealth pero binabago nila. Nagsa-submit sila ng panibagong listahan na ang total amount ay nasa P734 [million]. Na-flag na ng COA ito," he said.

"Merong red flag kasi wala doon sa specs. Isiningit 'yung mga ibang resources, equipment na hindi approved ng DICT," he added.

Lacson also said PhilHealth had supposedly manipulated their financial statements.

"Sa pagsusuri, lumalabas na 'yung kanilang debt to equity ratio, 1:.99. Ibig sabihin hindi positive, kasi P111 billion 'yung liability, ang kanilang equity nasa P109 billion," he said.

This means that PhilHealth has more debts than the amount of money they already have, he added.

"Hindi lang 'yun. Doon hindi pa nakasama kung aalisin pa 'yung P14 billion na in-adjust ng PhilHealth. Babagsak pa 'yun, magiging 1:.86 na lang 'yung debt to equity ratio. Kasi kapag mas malaki ang utang mo sa equities mo, mababangkarote ka," Lacson also said.

The senator could not say yet who should be held accountable over these allegations of corruption in PhilHealth. He said they first want to know the level of authority in these cases.

"Ayon na rin sa mga dokumento na nakuha namin, parang in-authorize na nila 'yung mga regional directors nila na mag-attend dito sa pagre-release ng pondo. Ginawa na rin nila 'yan, kaya nga may mga regional directors na naimbestigahan noon e," he said.

"Kung ganun na... maski meron kang binigay na authority, dapat being the president and CEO of PhilHealth, si Gen. Morales, dapat meron na siyang mga safety nets, may mga mekanismo na siya para may check and balance," he added.

Morales, on the other hand, refuted the allegation of irregularities in PhilHealth.

"[Aabot sa] 50,000 transactions ang hina-handle ng PhilHealth araw-araw. Palagay ko naman kung hindi corruption ‘yung mga inefficiencies diyan, mali ‘yung pasok [ng entries], kulang. Pero iyong sinasabi na korapsyon na may sindikato, may mafia, wala hong ebidensiya," he said.

Last week, three PhilHealth officials resigned from their posts over alleged corrupt practices in the agency.

President Rodrigo Duterte has already ordered an investigation into these supposed anomalies. —KG, GMA News