Presidential spokesman Harry Roque assured public that he would set a meeting with the chief executive and the head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) to discuss his claims of corruption within the state health insurance firm.
Reports of rampant corruption within the agency have reached the Malacañang and drew criticism from Roque himself. The inaction of PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales as the chief irked the spokesman.
“Ang inaasahan po natin, mag-iimbestiga, magtatanggal, magpaparusa. Pero wala po tayong nakitang ganyang ginawa si Gen. Morales,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
[We expected him to investigate, remove, and impose penalties. But we didn’t’ see Gen. Morales do any of those.]
“Ang gagawin ko na lang po, siguro, manghihingi ako ng pagpupulong kay Presidente ng ganun ay maimbitahan si Gen. Morales at pupunta din po ako para masabi ko naman kung ano talaga ang aking damdamin,” he added.
[I will ask for a meeting with the President so Gen. Morales can be invited and I will also attend so I can share what I really feel.]
Morales, on the other hand, has claimed that PhilHealth already acted on alleged anomalies, with “boxes and boxes of files” sent to government investigators, resulting in the filing of cases against PhilHealth executives and employees.
“Maybe we should ask the NBI and the PACC, anong nangyari sa mga kasong iyon,” Morales said.
[Maybe we should ask the NBI and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission what happened to those cases.)]
The agency’s legal team is looking as well into 10,000 more cases involving hospitals and medical professionals accused of false claims and other anomalies, he said.
Morales said PhilHealth is open to a third-party audit.
