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MANILA – A Department of Justice (DOJ) official said Thursday that he was instructed to press charges this week against executives at Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for alleged widespread corruption at the agency.
“The directive for me is to present [the complaint] within the week “, said the undersecretary of Justice, Adrian Sugay, before the panels of the Chamber on Public Accounts and Good Governance and Public Responsibility.
“What remains is to continue the criminal complaints against PhilHealth officials. My office is finalizing the complaint about the reimbursement mechanism,” Sugay said, weeks after a task force led by the Department of Justice revealed the result of your one month research.
The PhilHealth task force on September 14 presented its findings to President Rodrigo Duterte.
In the report, he recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against former PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales, Senior Vice President of Information Management Sector, Jovita Aragona, Senior Vice President of Health Finance Policy Sector, Israel Francis Pargas, and the executive vice president and chief operating officer. Arnel De Jesus, among others.
Duterte immediately approved the task force’s recommendations.
The task force said the evidence and results of its investigation found that PhilHealth officers had violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Sugay says the task force is ready to work with the Chamber in pursuing criminal and administrative complaints against PhilHealth officials.
Both houses of Congress have launched their own investigations into the problems plaguing PhilHealth.
The Senate Committee of the Whole previously recommended filing charges for corruption and embezzlement against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who chairs the PhilHealth board; Morales; and other executives at the state insurance firm after they allegedly authorized the release of COVID-19 funds to health facilities that do not serve coronavirus patients.
The alleged corruption issues at PhilHealth arose as the country faced a health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
—RG Cruz Reports, ABS-CBN News
DOJ, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, PhilHealth, Adrian Sugay, Task Force PhilHealth, corruption
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