SENATE PROBE

PhilHealth exec denies link to errant crediting of P9.7M to rural bank

PhilHealth Senior Vice President Rodolfo del Rosario on Tuesday denied that he had a hand in the errant crediting of P9.7 million to Balanga Rural Bank in 2019.

During the resumption of the Senate hearing on alleged anomalies hounding the state health insurer, former anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith claimed that Del Rosario could be involved because he had "frequent trips" to Bataan.

"The allegations of Atty. Keith are ridiculous... Hindi rin po totoong inupuan ko 'yan kasi may ad hoc committee na [na-create] diyan and they already submitted their recommendation to the Office of the President on June 15, 2020," del Rosario said.

"Napunta ako ng Balanga, Bataan because there was a staff meeting sa Department of Health. Ang mga area meetings po noon, doon po ginaganap," he added.

Del Rosario reiterated that the incident has not been neglected by PhilHealth officials and was actually investigated.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, on the other hand, questioned the "shallow" charges slapped against the two Region II officials involved in the wrongful crediting of P9.7 million.

"You were about to lose P9.7 million, 'simple neglect of duty'? And then 11 times nagkaroon ng transaction. 'Di puwedeng systems error," he said.

Citing corruption as reason for his resignation from PhilHealth, Keith earlier in the hearing  said the amount may have been deliberately deposited in Balanga Rural Bank to embezzle public funds. —KBK, GMA News