Resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud officer applies for immunity

Former PhilHealth Anti-Fraud Legal Officer Thorrsson Montes Keith has applied for legislative immunity as he testified in the Senate hearing on alleged anomalies in PhilHealth.

In his letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III dated August 6, 2020, Keith stated he applied for legislative immunity with his respective testimonies and other evidence in the hearings of the Senate Committee of the Whole, on the following:

• P.S. Res. No. 461 (on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation);
• P.S. Res. No. 474 (on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation); and
• P.S. Res. No. 475 (on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation).

"The Committee of the Whole will please recall the threatening language used yesterday by those identified as members of the syndicate. This morning, at the PhilHealth Head Office in Pasig City, one of them was boasting of filing charges against us," Keith said in his letter, shown to GMA News Online by a source in the Senate.

Keith has also requested for security due to billions of pesos involved with the issue, as he also said "various physical threats" were issued against him, with one unidentified person asking for his location and identity near his hideout.

"At the next hearing of the Committee of the Whole on August 11, 2020, we shall make available additional testimony and documents to substantiate the corruption charges we have leveled against high-level officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation," Keith said.

Keith claimed a "mafia" in PhilHealth was able to steal some P15 billion from the state insurer through several fraudulent schemes.

According to Keith, 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 tagged the entire executive committee of the state health insurer as the "mafia" that pockets public funds.

Following his allegations, PhilHealth executives said they will file a libel complaint against him. —LBG, GMA News