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Nothing prevents Congress from filing complaints vs. PhilHealth officials —DOJ chief
By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS,GMA NewsThe Senate and the House of Representatives can file their own complaints against erring officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Monday.
"Nothing prevents the Senate or the House from initiating their own complaints against erring PhilHealth officials. Both the executive and legislative branches, representing the interest of the people, are duty-bound to rid any government agency or entity of corruption and wrongdoing," Guevarra said in a message to reporters.
He made the statement after Senator Panfilo Lacson said that the Senate may sue PhilHealth officials
who were not included by a Guevarra-led task force in the complaint they filed before the Office of the Ombudsman last week."We are keeping our options open. Puwede kaming mag-initiate mismo ng pagfa-file ng kaso against sa mga tao na hindi naisama ng task force," Lacson said Sunday.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives conducted inquiries into alleged anomalies at the state health insurer. Guevarra, on the other hand, leads a task force ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to pursue its own investigation.
Task Force PhilHealth through the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed a complaint for graft and malversation against resigned PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Arnel De Jesus, Senior Vice Presidents Renato Limsiaco, Jr. and Israel Francis Pargas and five others last Friday.
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The complaint was in connection with PhilHealth's"questionable grant" of advances to some healthcare institutions in the National Capital Region under the corporation's Interim Reimbursement Mechanism.
Guevarra said that the work of the Department of Justice as leader of the task force has just started. Composite teams are still investigating specific PhilHealth divisions.
"As we continue to probe more deeply into the fraud centers in the state health insurer and build up cases, more names may be included and more complaints will be filed in the coming days," he said.
At a Senate budget hearing, Guevarra said the task force may file more complaints this week.
"We have just begun and we're still uncovering and gathering more evidence, so who knows if in the future some other big fish may be caught, it's a possibility. We're not foreclosing the possibility that some other important people may [be charged]," he said.
Lacson said over the weekend that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and former PhilHealth senior vice president Rodolfo Del Rosario Jr. may still be included in subsequent complaints to be filed by the task force.
Duque and Del Rosario were among the officials that the Senate recommended to be charged following their own investigation into PhilHealth. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News