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MANILA (TO UPDATE) – The interagency task force created to investigate alleged anomalies at Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday against former PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales and several other officials from the agency.
Morales faces corruption and embezzlement charges.
In the report, the task force also filed an embezzlement complaint against Senior Vice President Renato Limsiaco, and a bribery against Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Arnel De Jesus, and Senior Vice President Israel Pargas.
The complaint was filed for disbursements of funds through the Provisional Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), a system through which advance notifications are made to hospitals in case of unforeseen events.
However, the letter of transmission from the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice, Adrian Sugay, indicated that the complaint against various PhilHealth officials was limited to hospitals in the National Capital Region only.
Task Force PhilHealth presented its findings to President Rodrigo Duterte on September 14.
Duterte immediately approved the task force’s recommendations.
Also on Friday, Malacañang said PhilHealth chairman and chief executive Dante Gierran called on the agency’s top executives to resign amid corruption issues.
It’s the fastest way PhilHealth could reorganize itself, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on CNN Philippines.
“We support this initiative by Atty. Gierran. We trust that you will have very good information to guide you on whose resignation to accept … I hope, too, that you are guided by the findings of the Senate, as well as the findings of Task Force PhilHealth,” he said .
Morales resigned as director of PhilHealth in August for health reasons, as the agency faced an investigation for corruption.
A separate Senate investigation found that, as of June 9, 2020, PhilHealth had released P14 billion in COVID-19 funding to 632 healthcare institutions.
Of that amount, P231.15 million were delivered to dialysis centers and maternity clinics, which were not treating COVID-19 patients, a Senate report showed.
The alleged anomalies at the insurance agency emerged amid the country’s health crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
– With a report by Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News
PhilHealth, PhilHealth working group, Ricardo Morales, accuses PhilHealth Ombudsman, accuses Ricardo Morales Ombudsman
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