Ex-Morales assistant cites corruption as reason for quitting PhilHealth

Estrobal Laborte, former head executive assistant at PhilHealth, on Tuesday told a Senate investigating body that he resigned from the agency because he could no longer stand corruption.

During the resumption of the Senate hearing on alleged irregularities in PhilHealth, Laborte said he first thought of resigning from the agency in April this year due to the anomalous deals the state insurer has entered into.

Laborte shared screenshots of his messages to board member Alejandro Cabading, who he worked with to stop the alleged disadvantageous deals.

"Magre-resign na ako sir by July 15 'pag hindi maayos ito. Hindi kaya ng konsensya ko ito sir. Tapusin ko lang one year service sa PhilHealth," Laborte told Cabading in June.

"I can no longer stand to work with these kind of people sir. I really need to go." 

Claiming defeat, Laborte tendered his resignation in July, amid the alleged continued corruption in the agency.

"Siguro we should accept defeat. Walang tumutulong to fix PhilHealth. Sa assessment ko sir corruption will continue to go on and on at wala na tayong magagawa. Alis na lang ako sir, hanap ako iba work," he told Cabading.

PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales, during the previous hearing, said Laborte cited studies as reason for his resignation.

Laborte did not deny this during Tuesday's hearing. "Nagpaalam naman po ako ng maayos at sinabi ko po na ang intention ko is to go back to school and to study, which is true naman," he said.

Laborte did not attend the previous hearing, backing out at the last minute due to "security reasons." During Tuesday's hearing, he questioned the bidding process for information technology projects of the state insurer.

PhilHealth and its officials are under investigation over the agency's alleged overpriced purchase of an IT system worth over P2 billion.

Cabading had earlier tagged four executive committee members as a "mafia" operating within the agency.

Morales — who had earlier admitted that fraud may have cost PhilHealth billions of pesos in 2019 — responded by saying that Cabading has an axe to grind against management due to a failure to broker a deal.

At a televised briefing Monday night, Duterte said he would be tough against PhilHealth officials who would be found stealing funds supposed to be for the people’s health insurance program.  —KBK, GMA News