[ad_1]
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he was surprised that the multi-agency task force created to investigate the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) did not recommend the filing of charges against the Secretary of Salud Francisco Duque III for the disorder of funds that involves the state insurer.
“No Duke? Not Del Rosario? I’m dumbfounded! Article 217 (Embezzlement) of the [Revised Penal Code] it’s very clear, ”Sotto said in a Viber message to reporters on Monday.
Sotto chairs the Senate Committee of the Whole, which previously recommended embezzlement and corruption charges against Duque and several other officials for the allegedly questionable release of billions of funds through PhilHealth’s emergency cash advance measure.
The committee also wants administrative cases to be brought against PhilHealth’s senior vice president of legal, Rodolfo del Rosario, and all other officials and employees of the agency’s Claims and Claims Review Department “for their breach and gross negligence of their duties in relation to pending cases. in her apartment “.
However, the task force led by the Justice Department did not recommend charges against Duque and Del Rosario.
“Perhaps the Ombudsman has a better perspective on the anomalies,” Sotto continued.
Duque, who serves as ex-officio chairman of the PhilHealth board, has since dismissed the Senate committee’s findings as “unfounded.”
The health chief said he was involved with the distribution of funds from the MRI when “he was not even part of the deliberation and did not sign the aforementioned resolution” that authorized it.
But Sotto had emphasized that Duque’s own admission that he was unaware of the allegedly anomalous distribution of IRM funds only proves that he had been negligent as chairman of the PhilHealth board.
EDV
Read next
EDITOR’S SELECTION
MOST READ
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, please contact us.
[ad_2]
