MANILA (UCAN): Bishop José Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, the head of Caritas Philippines, called for “justice and accountability” on August 13 following allegations of widespread corruption by high-ranking government officials involved with the country’s universal health coverage scheme.
It is alleged government figures were involved in defrauding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the national health insurance scheme created to help provide universal health coverage to all citizens, out of billions of pesos. The fraud involved the delaying of salaries as well as overpriced budget proposals for information and communication technology projects.
Bishop Bagaforo said the scheme was riddled with corruption because government officials were selfish enough to think that they “could always get away with it.”
Whistleblower and PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer, Thorsson Montes Keith, revealed during a Senate investigation on August 4 that a “PhilHealth mafia” had stolen 15 billion pesos ($2.35 billion) from a PhilHealth fund allotted for care of the poor during the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic.
He also claimed that PhilHealth’s funds would run out by 2022 as a result of the anomalies, decreased collections and higher payouts due to Covid-19 hospitalisation bills.
“We expect that by 2021 we will already be in the red already, so it’s only one year … in terms of actuarial life,” Keith said in a statement.
According to the Inquirer, he also claimed that the syndicate plans to use the contributions paid by overseas Filipino workers to replace the money they had “stolen or corrupted.”
Bishop Bagaforo said officials facing investigation in connection with the scandal must be suspended.
“We are in solidarity with all sectors in calling for the suspension of these officials to give way to an independent investigation of the graft allegations,” Bishop Bagaforo said.
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He called on government authorities “to uncover the truth, serve justice and make everyone involved accountable.”
“The public cannot always be at the receiving end of corruption in the government. It is utterly devastating that cases of this scale and magnitude can prevail in public offices where accountability should have been the primary measure of moral aptitude,” Bishop Bagaforo said.
Lawmakers have proposed that PhilHealth suspend operations pending an investigation and also called for the immediate suspension of officials involved.
“The current allocation system is a complete disaster and is a huge stumbling block for our hospitals to be able to effectively address the killer pandemic,” lawmaker, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, said in an interview.
Another lawmaker, Panfilo Lacson, questioned the way the agency allocated funds, particularly in choosing which hospitals it would subsidise.
Bishop Bagaforo said any investigation must start at the top of PhilHealth, namely the health secretary, Francisco Duque.
“The investigation must not favor anyone starting from top leadership down to the last employee of PhilHealth. It must be fair and square,” Bishop Bagaforo said.
Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, said on August 6 that the president, Rodrigo Duterte, had ordered a team to investigate the allegations and instructed it to gather evidence of corruption.
