Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 17) — A task force probing alleged corruption in the government health insurer is gathering evidence for the filing of complaints, a Cabinet official said Thursday.
“Yung filing of the complaints (concerning the filing of the complaints), we are hoping to be able to do so within the next 30 days,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. “We have to gather the necessary supporting documentary evidence.”
Guevarra told a media briefing the task force has enough evidence to support the filing of administrative and criminal charges against a number of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) officials and employees.
He said losses could have reached into billions of pesos because of unchecked corrupt practices.
“Based on what we have seen, and this has been going on for many years… we believe that we are talking about hundreds of billions of pesos here over the years,” Guevarra said.
The task force cited negligence on the part of key executives, particularly in carrying out an advance payment mechanism to hospitals for coronavirus response, or interim reimbursement mechanism.
The team also found irregularities in the procurement of information and commncation technology equipment.
