WellMed owner to be detained until estafa rap is decided

One of the owners of a dialysis clinic tagged in an allegedly fraudulent PhilHealth claims scheme will remain in detention until the estafa complaint against him is resolved, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Tuesday.

"In the meantime, respondents will be detained with the NBI Detention Center while awaiting for the resolution of this case," a DOJ prosecutor said based on minutes of the inquest proceedings seen by reporters.

During the proceedings Tuesday afternoon, Bryan Sy, the owner and vice president of WellMed Dialysis Center, questioned the validity of his warrantless arrest, which the National Bureau of Investigation carried out after finding "sufficient basis" to do so.

Without explicitly upholding the validity of the arrest, the DOJ said that a court had already ruled on the matter in a Tuesday order.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Anna Noreen Devanadera was referring to the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 20's ruling which denied a petition filed by Sy's wife challenging his detention.

Judge Marivic Balisi-Umali denied a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus in favor of Sy upon finding that the facts presented "show that Dr. Bryan Sy was restrained of his liberty by virtue of a juridical process defined as a writ, warrant, subpoena and other formal writing issued by authority of law."

"That there is no probable cause for the warrantless arrest of the subject has been held not a valid ground for the issue of a Writ of Habeas Corpus," the court held.

Sy and nine others face complaints for estafa and falsification of documents before the DOJ on allegations that they made PhilHealth claims on behalf of patients who have already died.

The DOJ now considers the complaints submitted for resolution after Sy's camp said they will no longer submit their own evidence. The decision will either be a dismissal of the charges or an indictment.

The two former employees who first made the accusations, Edwin Roberto and Liezel de Leon, are included in the charge and hope to be turned into witnesses if the case would be filed in court.

Citing the NBI's complaint, the Manila court said in the order that the bureau found that "the attending physicians of WellMed have committed and continue to commit schemes to defraud the PhilHealth."

The court said an NBI lawyer manifested that the bureau had "obtained a copy of Certificate of Filing showing that the WellMed continue to file claims for benefits from the PhilHealth for dead patients." — MDM, GMA News