(Eagle News) — The P2 billion to P3 billion in funds released by PhilHealth on a weekly basis are “exposed to corruption,” an official of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission said on Tuesday, Aug. 10.
Greco Belgica said in a Senate hearing on the allegations of corruption in PhilHealth that this was because the state insurer’s IT system has no mechanism in place to validate claims made by hospitals.
“Hindi chinecheck ng PhilHealth kung totoo ang mga claims nila,” he said.
He added there were instances fraud cases ordered filed by the PhilHealth central office against particular hospitals were not filed by the regional office.
He cited the case of one regional office that did not file 220 fraud cases “up to this day” against a supposedly erring hospital.
“Iniipit po nila ang kaso,” he said.
He added if PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales was not removed, “hindi po maalis ang problema, dahil mula ulo hanggang paa ang corruption sa PhilHealth.”
Morales in the same hearing said one year was not enough to rid the state insurer of corruption.
“Mahaba po ang listahan ng iniimbestigahan namin. Wala po kaming palulusutin,” Belgica said.
Earlier, Belgica said the PACC had initially recommended the filing of charges or the firing of 36 PhilHealth officials over corruption.
The recommendation was made to the Office of the President.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Justice to form a panel that will look into the corruption allegations.
On Monday, Aug. 10, he said he would go after the corrupt in the state insurer, as he urged those who were “innocent” to continue their work.