Sotto expects Duterte's wrath to fall upon PhilHealth officials amid alleged irregularities

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday said he expects PhilHealth to get a whip of President Rodrigo Duterte's wrath after several lapses and grievances have been exposed during the legislative investigation.

Asked for his reaction to the state insurer's alleged lack of cooperation with the Commission on Audit (COA), Sotto said: "I think the Executive Department should do something about them. Short of bringing in the marines!"

"Ang hinihintay ko ay magalit si PRRD sa kanila," he added.

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the Commission on Audit revealed that it was having a hard time "ever since" to get hold of necessary documents for auditing PhilHealth transactions.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri opined that the Office of the President should compel the PhilHealth officials involved to "take a leave of absence or be immediately suspended."

This would allow investigative agencies to get to the bottom of the alleged corruption within PhilHealth, according to Zubiri.

"They should move quickly so these records can be secured and before they can be tampered, altered or lost by unscrupulous individuals within the agency," he said in a message to reporters.

"I intend to file a resolution in the Senate to ask the executive to suspend immediately these officials particularly those who refuse to take a leave of absence and hamper and obstruct the investigations on this agency," he added.

On the other hand, PhilHealth senior vice president Renato Limsiaco Jr. said the COA was already given enough access to the state health insurer's records.

"Year 2019 po nabigyan na po sila ng access. 'Yung sinabi po na mga dokumento na binigyan po kami ng pagkakataon, those are documents po sa mga regional offices po natin. During that time nahirapan po ang regional offices na magpadala sa central office dahil sa maiksing panahon," he said in the latest hearing.

The Senate Committee of the whole suspended the hearing on PhilHealth on Tuesday night. Sotto said they may either call for another hearing or proceed with the crafting of the committee report which will also be submitted to the Department of Justice.—AOL, GMA News