Some P114M PhilHealth contributions 'diverted' to various bank accounts in 2011 —NBI

Some P114 million in premium contributions from a professional services company were allegedly diverted to various bank accounts instead of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) back in 2011, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

This was revealed on Tuesday during the continuation of the House joint panel inquiry into the alleged irregularities at the state health insurer.

During the hearing, Surigao Del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers brought up the financial settlement among PhilHealth, Accenture, Citibank, and Metrobank, which came after premium contributions from Accenture were supposedly diverted to a Metrobank branch in Batangas.

Atty. Minerva Retanal of the NBI Anti-Fraud Division, who took up the case, confirmed that PhilHealth indeed did not receive the payments from Accenture, although it appeared in their IT system.

"It appears that the payment of member corporation, in this case Accenture, were diverted and that a possible intrusion in PhilHealth's IT system was made as cover-up," she said.

"Initially, during the reconciliation, it was found that there's a floating item amounting to P114 million. However, these items were not actually received by PhilHealth. It was a suspicion because why will it appear in their database when in truth and in fact, PhilHealth did not receive any of these amounts?" she added.

Retanal further said that the payment supposedly for PhilHealth was made by Accenture through its bank upon issuance of a cheque. The said cheque was then delivered to a branch of PhilHealth and was issued a receipt.

"However, upon verification, the aforesaid receipt issued by PhilHealth is fictitious. So no crediting of that particular payment was made to PhilHealth because of that fictitious official receipt," she said.

"We discovered several accounts also where the money [was] credited as well in one particular bank," she added.

Retanal did not disclose, though, the details of these bank accounts due to prohibitions in the Bank Secrecy Law.

Barbers then revealed that the said funds were indeed traced to a bank in Batangas. In that same branch, however, two employees were killed.

The lawmaker expressed concern that the killing of the two branch employees were related to the PhilHealth incident — an observation that Retanal said was also described in their investigation.

"The death of the former bank employee was somehow interrelated with the case of Accenture and that of PhilHealth. Kumbaga, sa pieces of puzzle, we were able to correlate some incidences relating to the issue of PhilHealth," Retanal said.

"The bank employee, when we did our investigation, was killed by a riding in tandem as per police report on the matter. And when we do the background check of that particular employee, we found out that he is a former distributing clerk or in-charge of the cheque clearing within that particular branch of the bank in Batangas," she added.

Retanal, however, said that the case was archived due to the absence of complaining witnesses from PhilHealth, Accenture, and Metrobank "as an offshoot of their amicable settlement."

According to Barbers, the PhilHealth board came up with a resolution where the state health insurer agreed to a settlement of 95% of the total amount of the diverted money.

"Bakit kayo makikipag-settle? Pera niyo ba 'yan? Pera ng taumbayan 'yan. Hindi kasalanan ng taumbayan na sa kalokohan niyo, na-divert ang pera somewhere else," Barbers asked PhilHealth.

"Kung babawiin namin, sasabihin niyo 'Payag kami pero 95% na lang.' E anong klaseng polisiya yan?" he added.

Atty. Jonathan Mangaoang, who now serves as PhilHealth's corporate secretary, said he was not aware of the further actions taken by the agency regarding the case as he only held the position in 2017.

He confirmed, however, that based on the records he has, PhilHealth indeed did not pursue the case anymore.

"Based on the resolution, it does not appear who paid the P108 million. But it only states that this is to be taken as full settlement of Accenture's diverted premium contributions," he added.

In the end, the House joint panel resolved to just subpoena all the documents related to the case from PhilHealth and the NBI.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he will dedicate the remaining two years of his term to bring corrupt PhilHealth officials to justice.

"'Yung PhilHealth, ang dapat imbestigahan at dapat i-prosecute lahat at dapat ikulong. Kung 'yan na lang ang trabaho ko sa naiwan kong dalawang taon, 'yan na lang ang gagawin ko," Duterte said in the briefing which was aired Tuesday morning.

The President recently ordered a task force, led by the Department of Justice, to investigate the alleged anomalies hounding the state health insurer.

DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the legal department of PhilHealth would have the special attention of the task force.

"So far, in the fact-finding, in the investigation reports that we have received so far, including those from the Senate and House of Representatives, it seems that the legal sector is a very ripe source of irregularities," Guevarra said in the same Monday briefing of Duterte aired Tuesday morning.

Among the allegations facing the state insurer is the statement of former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Keith Montes during a Senate hearing that a "mafia" in the company stole P15 billion through fraudulent schemes.

PhilHealth, in a statement, has since denied such claims.

The Senate is recommending the filing of appropriate charges, including malversation, against PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales and other high-ranking officials over the alleged irregularities, Senator Panfilo Lacson said. —KG, GMA News