Ex-PhilHealth officer claims regional office wrongly credited P9.7M to rural bank

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) wrongly credited some P10 million to a rural bank in Bataan, which may have been an attempt to pocket such funds, a former top official of the agency claimed Tuesday.

According to resigned anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith, personnel of the PhilHealth Region II Office wrongly credited some P9.705 million to the Balanga Rural Bank in Bataan "without any valid reason."

"I discovered that it was multiple transactions of payments of reimbursements of PhilHealth benefit claims for 12 consecutive periods for the month of May 2019 between May 2 to 22," he said in a Senate hearing.

"This is not merely inadvertent as the multiple transaction connotes deliberate intent to defraud the government by embezzling 9,705,332 pesos," the former PhilHealth official added.

Keith said officials of PhilHealth Region 2 office claimed the amount was inadvertently credited, but his investigation found that there may be links between senior officials of the agency in Balanga, Bataan.

"I was again wondering why they said that the transfer was a mere error, yet it is clear that Region II has no authority and access to banks located in other regions, in this case, Region III," he said.

Keith said the Balanga Rural Bank at first did not want to return the money to PhilHealth, but later on agreed because of a demand letter from the state insurer.

He noted, however, that the rural bank claimed that it should be compensated half of 1% of the credited amount, equivalent to P49,123 for the inconvenience.

Keith said PhilHealth officials from both Region II and the Central Office then met with officials of Balanga Rural Bank on September 25, 2019, when the P49,123 was paid.

"Some people whom I asked information from in PhilHealth believe that Balanga Rural Bank case was just a decoy to cover up something bigger," he said.

According to Keith, he heard rumors that a top official of the agency has a mistress in Balanga, Bataan, and that another top official had frequent travels in the area.

"The only thing to do is to determine the real owner of the bank account in Balanga, Bataan and it will open a Pandora's box," he said.

"This case has established one of the modus operandi of PhilHealth mafia untouchables and I have identified some of them," he added.

In the previous Senate hearing, Keith claimed that the PhilHealth "mafia," composed of the executive committee, stole some P15 billion through fraudulent schemes.

The state insurer has since denied such claims. —KG, GMA News