(Eagle News)–Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra will head the task force that will probe the allegations of corruption in PhilHealth.
In a statement, Justice spokesperson Markk Perete said the task force, which President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered constituted, will have as members the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President.
Perete said the National Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, among other agencies, are also being tapped to support Task Force PhilHealth in its work.
The task force will also discharge its functions in close collaboration with other relevant offices, such as the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, Perete said.
According to Perete, the task force’s probe shall not only focus on PhilHealth’s main office but also on its regional offices.
Its work, he said, will include “speeding up ongoing investigations and special audits, recommending necessary personnel movements at the PhilHealth, and examination of the corporation’s existing IT system.”
He said the task force will conduct lifestyle checks on key PhilHealth personnel and examine their financial transactions.
It shall also file administrative and anti-graft cases as warranted, and can preventively suspend personnel.
President Duterte issued the memorandum directing the DOJ to organize the panel on Friday.
This was after Thorrsson Montes Keith said there was “widespread corruption” in the state insurer, where he worked as anti-fraud officer until he tendered his resignation in July.
He later said, among others, that a “mafia” in PhilHealth pocketed P15 billion, and that PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales had asked him to straighten out the issue of allegedly overpriced COVID19 testing kits with the PACC.
PhilHealth has denied the allegations against its senior officials while Morales has yet to answer Keith’s recent allegations.
He has, however, said Keith was a disgruntled employee who was rejected for a promotion.
