House suspends plenary deliberation of DOH budget amid PhilHealth anomalies

The House of Representatives suspended plenary deliberations of the 2021 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) after Iloilo Representative Janette Garin sought copies of the documents related to questionable transactions of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), an agency attached to DOH.

"It's highly unusual to discuss the budget of the DOH considering that the PhilHealth documents are still in the pipeline. . . .We are willing to wait and we will discuss the budget thoroughly once the documents are submitted to us," Garin, former Health secretary said, before moving to suspend consideration of the department's budget.

Under the proposed budget for next year, PhilHealth will get P71 billion to fund the insurance coverage of Filipinos, especially indigent patients, senior citizens and persons with disability.

The DOH will get P127.28 billion, higher than its current budget of P100.55 billion, but which some sectors is still small amid the needs to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

A task force under the Department of Justice earlier found several executives of PhilHealth negligent in their duties in connection with the state insurer's interim reimbursement program, certain procurements, and accountability mechanisms. 

The task force earlier recommended to file criminal and administrative complaints against resigned PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales and several other officials.

The House suspended plenary deliberations of the budget at around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday and will resume at 10 a.m.—LDF, GMA News