Gordon calls ex-Budget chief Abad 'liar' for disputing his report

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson Richard Gordon has called former Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad a liar for disputing the "chairman's report" he released in relation to the upper chamber's investigations on PhilHealth last year.

"I’m disputing what he said and I am calling him a liar because 'yung ginawa nilang kalokohan napakalaki," Gordon said in an interview on OneNews TV on Wednesday.

Gordon's report, released earlier this week, recommended that Abad, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, and former Philippine Health Insurance Corporation chief Alexander Padilla be charged with technical malversation for allegedly diverting P10.6 billion from the PhilHealth fund in 2015.

He said the three also violated the ethical standards for public officials and employees.

But Abad asserted that the recommendation to slap him with charges was "baseless and built on nothing but unfounded accusations."

"In the first place, there was no P10.6-billion budget to speak of. Not in the 2015 General Appropriations Act, not anywhere. How could funds be diverted if they were not in the budget to start with?" Abad said.

"What is in fact true is that PhilHealth applied for funding for the payment of Senior Citizen premiums under the Unprogrammed Fund of GAA 2015. But this source had no funds, since no new or additional sources of revenues were available. For this reason, in 2015, no item of this nature was funded under the Unprogrammed Fund," he added.

Yet Gordon maintained that the P10.6 billion supposedly meant for PhilHealth premiums of senior citizens existed.

"There was really premium money allocated, P10.6 billion allocated for premiums. How can they deny it now that it doesn't exist?" Gordon said.

He reiterated that the fund was instead used for the construction of barangay health stations and dental trucks to allegedly advance election-related interests.

"Who was behind all these? Garin and it was released by the DBM Secretary by the name of Mr. Abad. Maybe he was not there deliberately but he was cooperating because he was a member of the party," he said.

"This time we have unmasked Garin as I have unmasked her in the Dengvaxia," he added.

Garin, on the other hand, called Gordon's report a "big joke."

She even sang her own rendition of OPM song "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?" as she questioned the motive and timing of the report.

"Bakit ngayon lang yan? Bakit ngayon kung kailan nakikilala na ang totoong mafia? Tila nililinlang, tinatakpan, nililihis, inuuto tayo," Garin sang.

Gordon said he is confident with his findings.

"I can tell you, I can vouch for it. We work very very hard on our investigation and yes all these people are guilty," he said.

The senator's report has yet to be routed and signed by other members of the Blue Ribbon Committee to be considered an official committee report.

Another report on alleged PhilHealth irregularities, this time from the Senate Committee of the Whole, will be released next week.—LDF, GMA News