Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 27) — PhilHealth’s legal department failed to file thousands of cases against erring employees and healthcare institutions, according to the task force investigating the beleaguered agency.
The multi-agency task force headed by the Justice Department flagged this “low and slow rate or prosecution” in a statement on Thursday, disclosing results of an earlier hearing.
Thousands of administrative cases against PhilHealth employees were listed in the corporation’s case inventory, but only 70 were processed, while a meager 50 resulted in the filing of charges, the task force quoted resigned Senior Vice President for the legal sector Rodolfo del Rosario, Jr. as saying. One of the cases against PhilHealth’s ranks even involved ₱2.1 billion, the task force said without going into detail.
Meanwhile, around 1,700 cases were listed against various healthcare facilities, Del Rosario said. He admitted that while his office endorsed 1,003 of these to regional offices for the lodging of criminal complaints, only 11 have been filed. These include fraudulent claims worth around ₱4.7 billion, he said.
“Del Rosario explained that management policy favored settlement over prosecution of cases so as not to dampen esprit de corps,” the task force said. The alleged lack of resources in PhilHealth’s regional offices also delays the filing of complaints, Del Rosario said.
A team from the task force will focus on PhilHealth’s legal department and will recommend possible action on complaints against employees and healthcare providers. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said they plan to recommend structural reforms and even an overhaul of the state health insurer.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are also conducting legislative inquiries into the alleged corruption and other irregularities in PhilHealth, and will submit their findings to the task force.
Senators said they have gathered “more than enough” evidence to recommend the filing of complaints against several PhilHealth officials for misappropriating funds through the controversial interim reimbursement mechanism. PhilHealth has since suspended the cash advance scheme to review its implementation, but its officials have denied pocketing billions of pesos through the system.
President Rodrigo Duterte is now finding a replacement for resigned PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales. Duterte has been pressed to sack Morales as fresh allegations of fraud and anomalies cropped up in June, but he refused to do so without sold evidence. Finally, on Tuesday, Duterte said “it would be best” for Morales to resign, but only cited his medical condition as he had been undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma.
READ: 51 hospitals with fraud cases still got ₱1.49 B from PhilHealth — lawmaker
