Party-list solon wants HDO vs. PhilHealth execs

A party-list lawmaker on Tuesday sought the issuance of a hold departure order (HDO) against executives of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in connection with the alleged irregularities hounding the state health insurer.

In a statement, Bagong Henerasyon party-list Representative Bernadette Herrera-Dy said the process leading to immigration watchlists, HDOs and INTERPOL red notices should be set in motion for the PhilHealth executives “so that when time comes for formalities to be done, actions will be swift.”

Dy also appealed to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Immigration (NBI) to immediately issue the needed legal authorization to secure the files and computers of PhilHealth to make sure evidence and witnesses do not suddenly disappear without any trace.

“As Congress conducts its hearings, alleged corrupt elements within the PhilHealth could be deleting files, covering up their electronic trail, destroying evidence, and attending to contingencies, including fleeing to other countries with which the Philippines has no extradition treaties,” she said. “The DOJ must take the necessary steps.”

Dy said no one at PhilHealth should be able to use the “worn-out” defense of presumption of regularity now that the capacity of the country to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic can be “dealt a serious blow” if the state health insurer is “found bled dry by a premeditated and carefully executed plunder” in progress for months or even years.

“The plunder would have gone unnoticed if the pandemic had not happened and there was no need for PhilHealth to bear the cost of hospitalization and COVID-19 testing of tens of thousands of our citizens,” she said.

“The corrupt schemers at PhilHealth could not have predicted the pandemic, but when it did hit our country, they gradually realized that the stench of their evil schemes would eventually come out,” Dy added.

‘Negligent in their duties’

Earlier, the DOJ-led task force ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate alleged corruption in PhilHealth revealed that PhilHealth executives were negligent in their duties in connection with the state insurer's interim reimbursement program, certain procurements, and accountability mechanisms.

Task Force PhilHealth has bared the key findings behind its recommendation to file criminal and administrative complaints against resigned PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales and several other officials.

The task force found irregularities in the three areas it focused its investigation on: the approval and implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), the approval of budgets for the purchase of ICT equipment, and corporate policies that fail to hold accountable erring PhilHealth personnel and health care institutions (HCI) and professionals.

The task force concluded that “persons who are supposed to set the policies and operational guidelines for the management of PhilHealth – the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee – have not shown the due diligence required of them in the discharge of their duties,” the DOJ said in a statement.

Duterte has approved these recommendations in a nationally-televised briefing on Monday night.

PhilHealth side

On Twitter, PhilHealth said while it has yet to receive a copy of the report which the task force submitted to Duterte, it vowed to “fully submit to the good judgment of and to whatever instructions that the President will issue based on the findings and recommendations contained therein.”

PhilHealth also reiterated its “unwavering commitment to truth and justice” and added that may the report “guide the proper authorities in pursuing those who had been culpable of wrongdoing and exonerate those that are innocent.”

“The whole of PhilHealth will continue to cooperate with the subsequent investigations to be conducted by the Task Force’s composite teams as well as by the other authorized agencies for the sake of truth and transparency.” — RSJ, GMA News