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MANILA, Philippines – A Senate panel’s recommendation to file complaints regarding the corruption allegations that plague the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is not limited to senior officials at the state insurance company, he said on Saturday the president of the Senate, Vicente Sotto III.
This after the Senate Plenary Committee recommended the filing of charges against the secretary of Health and president of the PhilHealth board of directors, Francisco Duque III, the president of PhilHealth, Ricardo Morales, and other senior officials of the agency for the alleged misuse of funds.
“I look forward to what the president said [Rodrigo] Duterte…. that everyone involved would charge them. That is why in the committee report and in our recommendation, it does not limit the recommendations to the top eight officials. No. So there is a blanket in that statement, all the other officials and employees who are connected or involved … participated in the statements, “Sotto said on DWIZ radio station.
(I trust the president’s word that all officers involved will face charges. So in our committee’s report and recommendations, it is not limited to the top eight officers. There is a blanket statement that all other officers and employees conspired or involved … participated in the communiqués.
He added that it is up to the Department of Justice to verify the involvement of other officials in the PhilHealth funding mess.
“In other words, it is up to the Justice Department to decide who or who is involved in this,” Sotto said.
Sotto also said he expects the Senate committee’s report on PhilHealth’s irregularities to be adopted on Monday, Sept. 7.
On Tuesday, Sotto sponsored the Senate panel report, saying the committee is recommending the filing of misconduct, corruption and corruption charges against Duque, Morales, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of PhilHealth resigned Arnel de Jesus, senior vice president. (SVP) of PhilHealth for fund management sector Renato Limsiaco, PhilHealth SVP for sector financial health policy Israel Francis Pargas, and other officials involved in the alleged “improper” and “illegal” implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) .
He said charges should be brought against officials for “gross abuse of discretion or gross negligence in determining the beneficiary of the IRM without valid criteria for distribution.”
In one of the hearings on the PhilHealth scam, Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that the agency allegedly favored some hospitals in distributing the MRI, which is emergency cash aid for hospitals responding to calamities.
/ MUF
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