Lacson calls Duque, PhilHealth execs ‘soulless’

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday said soul searching was only for people who have souls, not for PhilHealth officials who were allegedly involved in pocketing public funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Corruption in PhilHealth to take advantage of a pandemic is worse than the deadly coronavirus itself because of its evil intent and purpose... Soul searching is only for people who have souls," Lacson said on Twitter.

The senator claimed that among the "soulless" were Health Secretary Francisco Duque III who allegedly "didn’t do anything in his capacity as ex-officio Chairman of PhilHealth."

"Billion peso question is why?" the senator asked.

During a Senate hearing this week, Duque was also grilled about the unabated increase of COVID-19 cases. He said he was doing his best to address the pandemic and that he would do some soul-searching if his efforts still fell short of other people's expectations.

"There was never a time that I never tried my best but if my best is not enough, I just have to do some more reflection and soul searching and I will be the first to let everyone know that we need to learn," Duque said.

The Cabinet official, whose resignation had been sought by senators, said his lapses in the pandemic response were not deliberate.

Duque was also tagged by a whistleblower as the "godfather" of the mafia within PhilHealth but he said the allegation was baseless and malicious.

He also denied that "palakasan" was present in the implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) which had been criticized for fund releases to health care facilities that did not cater to COVID-19 patients.

PhilHealth officials have repeatedly claimed that IRM funds were not only for COVID-19 cases.

Nonetheless, they suspended its implementation amid ongoing investigations. — DVM, GMA News