‘Saan aabot ang P15B mo?’ Kiko Pangilinan stresses magnitude of PhilHealth loss due to ‘mafia’

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Wednesday underscored how much the public has lost after a "mafia" allegedly stole P15 billion from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

In a Twitter post, the opposition senator listed down estimates to show how long that supposedly missing money can go.

"Sa tingin ninyo, hanggang saan pa sana puwede umabot ang P15,000,000,000?" he asked netizens.

Pangilinan said it could have been used to buy over 11 million locally-made COVID-19 test kits at P1,320 each.

The country aims to test 10 million individuals in the next couple of months, according to testing czar Vince Dizon.

The "stolen" PhilHealth fund could have also been used to buy one million laptops for distance learning, Pangilinan said.

He added that P5,000 cash aid for three million Filipino families would also amount to P15 billion.

The price would also be the same to finance the P30,000 salary of 500,000 nurses in a month.

Further, Pangilinan said it could have been used to buy 10 million personal protective equipment to protect frontliners.

P15 billion would also be enough to cover 5.7 million dialysis treatments, according to the senator.

On Tuesday, resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith claimed that P15 billion has been stolen by a syndicate inside the state insurer.

He tagged all the members of the PhilHealth executive committee as "mafia."

PhilHealth Board member Alejandro Cabading also named four ranking officials who were allegedly mafia members but they denied the allegation.

During the same hearing, PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales denied that he was a coddler of corrupt officials and said he has no evidence yet that could stand in court to implicate those who are allegedly involved in irregularities. — RSJ, GMA News