House joint panel cites neurologist in contempt for accusing solon of lying

The House joint panel conducting inquiry into the alleged irregularities at PhilHealth on Wednesday cited a Koronadal-based neurologist in contempt for verbally accusing a lawmaker of making false claims against him during the hearing.

House Minority Leader Benny Abante Jr., during the hearing, moved to cite in contempt Dr. Mark Dennis Menguita after he claimed that Magsasaka party-list Representative Argel Cabatbat was lying in Congress in making his allegations against the doctor.

House Committee on Public Accounts chair Mike Defensor said that resource persons should not be allowed to make such accusations against members of the House.

"Hindi sila puwedeng mag-reply in that matter because that would be in contempt not only of the member of the committee but of the entire committee," Defensor said.

This prompted Abante to request the committee "to hold Dr. Menguita in contempt for verbally accusing one of our congressmen in this committee hearing."

With no objection from members of the panel, Defensor declared Abante's motion carried.

Accusation vs. Menguita

In an earlier hearing, Cabatbat, citing previous investigations, accused Menguita of paying recruiters to invite PhilHealth members to avail of his free wellness program provided that they only needed to sleep in a hospital.

He then claimed that Menguita would make false diagnoses to show that those who availed the wellness program had severe illnesses, when in fact they only had minor ones, so that he could make bigger claims from PhilHealth.

Menguita supposedly connived with four hospitals in his scam, Cabatbat said.

Cabatbat also accused Menguita of being behind the killing of a certain Dan Joseph Alas, who filed a criminal case against the doctor.

Two months later, Cabatbat said he was also ambushed by three gunmen not long after he also accepted a case against Menguita. He survived the incident and shot to death one of the suspects in retaliation.

Cabatbat said CCTV footage showed that the same gunmen who killed Alas were the ones who ambushed him, causing him to believe that it was Menguita who also masterminded his ambush.

He further said in Wednesday's hearing that before the suspect died, he told Cabatbat that it was Menguita who employed them for the ambush.

Menguita denies accusation

Menguita, however, denied all the allegations thrown against him by Cabatbat.

"Sa lahat ng akusasyon sa akin ni Cong. Cabatbat, dini-deny ko ang lahat ng mga ito. Ako ay inosente at ako ay biktima ng harassment. Pinag-ikot-ikot niya ang mga petsa ng mga pangyayari," he said.

"Pilit niya akong dinudugtong na miyembro ako ng mafia, pilit niyang dinudugtong na ang pag-imbestiga niya sa akin ay siya raw ang nagpaimbestiga sa akin nung 2015. Marami akong katibayan na siya ay nagsisinungaling at lahat yan ay sinubmit ko sa inyo," he added.

Menguita claimed that Cabatbat's friends have been harassing him since 2014 after they accused him of having a relationship with the wife of one of the lawmaker's friends.

He added that Cabatbat is sowing confusion among his fellow lawmakers about the free wellness program, saying that there was a patient who actually availed of that service.

"Nagsisinungaling siya sa Kongreso," Menguita accused Cabatbat.

But instead of calling for his detention after being cited in contempt, Cabatbat recommended that Menguita be only given a warning.

"Gusto ko i-recommend na warning lang muna siguro. After all, birthday naman ni Dr. Menguita ngayon. Pagbigyan na natin kahit inakusahan na sinungaling ako, pero lumalabas sa ebidensya na siya ang sinungaling. I-recommend ko na warning," Cabatbat said.

Back in 2019, PhilHealth said it was investigating Menguita for fraud by supposedly charging bogus medical bills of Philhealth members against the state health insurer.

PhilHealth later said it has filed 21 cases against Menguita for alleged fraud. —KBK, GMA News