Palace: Task force to evaluate Senate findings on PhilHealth mess

Malacañang said Wednesday the task force formed by President Rodrigo Duterte would evaluate the findings of the Senate on the supposed anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said the Palace respects the position of the senators but the President would “defer” to the findings of the inter-agency body led by the Department of Justice.

“The President will have to await the findings of his own task force but as I said the investigation in aid of legislation is always welcome. It is a recognized power of the Senate and we respect their findings,” Roque told CNN-Philippines in an interview. 

“I think the task force itself will evaluate the findings of the Senate. I am almost sure that the Senate has transmitted all the evidence it has gathered in the course of its investigation.”

The task force is expected to submit its findings to Duterte on September 14.

The Senate Committee of the Whole earlier urged the filing of criminal charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, chairman of PhilHealth board, the agency’s resigned chief Ricardo Morales, and several others over the "improper and illegal implementation” of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) or the cash advances to healthcare institutions.

Duque lamented the Senate findings, stressing that he had no say in the IRM.

Malacañang previously said Duterte still trusted his Health Secretary despite the allegations of widespread corruption surrounding the state insurer.

Asked if the Senate findings will affect Duterte’s perception of Duque, Roque said: “Let’s await the recommendations of the task force.”

“If the task force has a similar recommendation as the Senate, so be it,” he said.

“But for now, the President would defer to the findings of the task force. So you will expect that the evaluation of evidence and appreciation of evidence would be far more in depth than the Senate investigation. within the month of September the President would like to see their findings.”

Duque maintained that he will cooperate with any investigation into the accusations. — RSJ, GMA News