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Sotto 'dumbfounded' after task force exempts Duque from raps over PhilHealth mess


Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said he was surprised that the task force led by the Department of Justice did not implicate Health Secretary Francisco Duque III over the alleged irregularities in PhilHealth.

Aside from Duque, who chairs PhilHealth's board, Sotto was also expecting that resigned PhilHealth senior vice president for the legal sector Rodolfo Del Rosario Jr. would be recommended for charges too.

"No Duque? No Del Rosario? I’m dumbfounded! Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code is very clear. Perhaps the Ombudsman would have a better perspective of the anomalies," Sotto said in a message to reporters.

On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendations of the DOJ-led task force to file criminal and administrative charges against several PhilHealth executives in connection with alleged irregularities.

Among those who will be slapped with charges are PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, Senior Vice President (SVP) Jovita Aragona, Officer in Charge Calixto Gabuya Jr., SVP Renato Limsiaco Jr., SVP Israel Pargas, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Arnel de Jesus, and Division Chief Bobby Crisostomo.

The task force just urged Duterte to “strongly admonish and remind” Duque and other ex-officio members of the PhilHealth board of the “grave consequences of action or inaction.”

But Sotto said those who were not implicated by the task force are not off the hook yet since the Ombudsman may still find them responsible.

"The Ombudsman does not rely its investigations on task forces. They have motu propio powers," he said.

Duque has previously denied having any hand in the alleged illegal implementation of the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) by PhilHealth, saying he was not even a "voting chairman" of the board, but Sotto maintained that "negligence" still counts as an offense.

Last month, the Senate spent more than 28 hours investigating the alleged "illegal and improper" implementation of PhilHealth's IRM, overpricing of its IT equipment, and legal cases that were supposedly unacted upon.

Duque was among those the senators have recommended to be filed with charges but Duterte expressed his full trust in him. —KBK, GMA News

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