Resigned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) senior vice president for legal sector Rodolfo del Rosario Jr. on Friday has maintained his innocence amid allegations of corruption and irregularities in the state insurer, saying there is no “mafia” in the agency.
“We are maintaining our innocence,” Del Rosario said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.
On Wednesday, Del Rosario resigned, citing “trial by publicity” by congressional inquiries coupled with the preventive suspension slapped by the Office of the Ombudsman.
PhilHealth has been under multiple investigations over its release of P15 billion advance payments to hospitals and health care institutions amid COVID-19, of which only P1 billion was accounted for; alleged overpriced IT projects; overpayments of reimbursements to hospitals, among others.
Resigned anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith claimed the PhilHealth “mafia,” which he said was composed of the executive committee, stole some P15 billion through fraudulent schemes such as the interim reimbursement mechanism.
PhilHealth has since denied such claims and has since suspended the IRM.
Del Rosario also maintained that in his own observation there was no syndicate inside PhilHealth.
Del Rosario, however, said his tenure in the executive committee was limited since he only joined it in 2018.
Nevertheless, he reiterated that his resignation was personal and at the same time due to health reasons, adding he was a hypertensive diabetic and had a stroke or transient ischemic attack as well as ischemia.
Meanwhile, Sen. Christopher Go said President Rodrigo Duterte would decide on Monday the replacement of Morales.
“I just talked to the President early this morning and there’s already on his radar (a possible replacement) — he’s just thoroughly thinking about it… he will decide by Monday if he will choose him.”
Go was referring to Senior Vice President Arnel de Jesus who was designated as PhilHealth officer-in-charge.
Go cited the need for Morales’ successor especially during this time of pandemic so the services of the state insurer would not be hampered.
In a related development, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon expressed disappointment over Jesus’ appointment, noting that as PhilHealth’s Chief Operation Officer, he implemented the questionable Interim Reimbursement Mechanism.
“It must be remembered that he was the one who kept justifying the download of IRM funds to non-COVID-19 hospitals such as dialysis and maternity clinics. His actions and poor professional judgment were so evident during the hearings of the Committee of the Whole on PhilHealth,” Drilon said in a statement on Friday.
“He is the one who said that liquidation is ‘optional’, when PhilHealth should have required hospitals to liquidate the funds immediately as required by COA rules. He signed the illegal liquidation memorandum circular which gave too much discretion to regional directors, which resulted in this financial mess and corruption,” Drilon stressed.
“There is nothing from his past actions that could justify this decision of the PhilHealth Board to appoint de Jesus. I am extremely concerned about how the Board picked de Jesus,” he added.
“What PhilHealth needs now is a cleansing process. We need someone with unblemished credibility, with zero tolerance for corruption and with high regard for accountability,” Drilon said, “of which Mr. de Jesus really fell short and is really unqualified.”
“He is not the right man to lead PhilHealth,” he added.
“The long history of corruption within the corporation, across all levels, may be addressed by passing a law that would authorize the President to reorganize PhilHealth. This reorganization must be accompanied by a well-studied reorganization plan,” he said earlier.
Drilon said the government should observe the “fit and proper” rule in appointing officials to PhilHealth.
“The fit and proper rule should be strictly applied. The officials must be chosen based on their integrity, experience, education, training and competence, among others,” Drilon said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Franciis Pangilinan renewed the public clamor to replace Health Sec. Francisco Duque III, both as DOH secretary and head of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The DOH and IATF are the primary drivers of the government response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The public clamor is for a surgery of the cancer that is corruption not just in PhilHealth, but in the government offices responsible for the procurement of overpriced and sometimes ineffective medical equipment, devices, and supplies,” he said.
He noted that Filipinos infected with COVID-19 were now over 200,000.
“It’s been six months since a health emergency was declared. Millions lost their jobs. And billions were stolen from the nation’s coffers. Why does it appear that the solution was a mere band-aid?” he asked.