[ad_1]
This combined photo shows the Secretary of the Department of Health, Francisco Duque III (left), and the recently resigned director of PhilHealth, Ricardo Morales. INVESTIGATION FILES
MANILA, Philippines – The Senate Committee of the Whole recommended the filing of charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, the recently resigned director of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) Ricardo Morales, as well as several senior officials, for the alleged wrong use of funds under the state agency’s emergency cash advance measure.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, chairman of the committee, reported on the panel’s findings during Tuesday’s plenary session after a series of hearings on new allegations of corruption within the agency.
One of the corruption allegations raised during the Senate hearings involves the release of allegedly questionable funds under the corporation’s Interim Refund Mechanism (IRM).
During one of the hearings, Senator Panfilo Lacson said a review of PhilHealth’s records showed a “pattern” that some hospitals, particularly privately owned ones, were favored in distributing MRIs over state-owned hospitals.
Sponsoring the report on the floor, Sotto said the committee is recommending the filing of misconduct and corruption and corruption charges against Duque, Morales, PhilHealth’s executive vice president and chief operating officer resigned, Arnel de Jesus, senior vice president (SVP ) from PhilHealth for the fund management industry. Renato Limsiaco, PhilHealth’s Senior Vice President for Health Finance Policy Israel Francis Pargas, and other officials involved in the alleged “improper” and “illegal” implementation of the MRI.
The charges must be brought against him because of “his gross abuse of discretion or gross negligence in determining the beneficiary of the IRM without valid criteria for distribution,” Sotto said as well.
The IRM is PhilHealth’s emergency cash advance measure to provide hospitals with a crisis fund to respond to natural disasters, calamities, and other unexpected events.
While IRM implementation was previously suspended, PhilHealth maintained that the reimbursement mechanism is “legal and necessary” for the country’s COVID-19 response amid controversy and accusations of favoritism.
Admin raps
Aside from the criminal charges, Sotto said the committee is also recommending to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Ombudsman the filing of administrative charges against Morales and PhilHealth, Senior Vice President of Management Services Sector Dennis Mas, for not implement board resolutions on courtesy waivers. saying it was “clearly a neglect of duty and insubordination”.
During one of the hearings, senators rated Morales for promoting four officials currently facing corruption complaints about their alleged involvement in the WellMed “ghost” dialysis scam that was discovered in 2019.
Morales insisted that he was unaware that complaints had been filed against the officials he had promoted.
The committee also recommended the filing of administrative cases against Morales and De Jesus for their alleged violation of the rules imposed by the Audit Commission on the settlement period when issuing Circular Memorandum 2020-032.
This memorandum, dated July 15, 2020, stated that PhilHealth’s regional offices had the option on the matter of the liquidation of the IRM.
“In other words, there were no concrete guidelines on the liquidation of the MRI,” Sotto said.
The committee also wants administrative cases brought against Philhealth’s senior vice president for the legal sector Rodolfo Del Rosario and all other officials and employees of the agency’s Appeals and Protest Review Department “for their breach and gross negligence of their duties. in relation to pending cases in your Department. “
Del Rosario recently submitted his irrevocable resignation as PhilHealth faces corruption investigations following fresh allegations of anomalies within the agency.
LEE: The resigned PhilHealth executive says he has a clear conscience, ready to face raps
Sotto previously said that the Justice Department, which is also leading a task force investigation into alleged corruption within PhilHealth, will receive a copy of the findings of the investigation from the Senate committee.
Aside from the Senate investigation and the investigation being conducted by the Justice Department-led task force, PhilHealth also faces separate corruption investigations by the House of Representatives and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.
KGA
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]
