PhilHealth

House panel challenges PhilHealth officials to sign bank secrecy waivers

Mara Cepeda

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(3rd UPDATE) PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales was at the hearing via Zoom but had to sign out before he could reply to the challenge as he was 'not feeling well.' Two other senior executives also leave the meeting, citing health reasons.

A House leader on Wednesday, August 12, challenged Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) officials to sign bank secrecy waivers so that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) can check their bank accounts, amid allegations of corruption in the state agency.

Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte posed the challenge as the House continued its investigation into alleged anomalies hounding PhilHealth on Wednesday.

“If they’re innocent and not hiding anything, are they willing to sign a document that AMLC can check their bank deposits?” asked Villafuerte. 

One by one, the following senior PhilHealth officials at the hearing – either physically at the Batasang Pambansa plenary hall or virtually via teleconferencing app Zoom – expressed willingness to sign bank secrecy waivers:

  • Israel Francis Pargas, senior vice president for health finance and policy sector 
  • Nerissa Santiago, acting senior vice president for actuarial services 
  • Jovita Aragona, senior vice president and chief information officer
  • Renato Limsiaco Jr, senior vice president for fund management sector
  • Walter Bacareza, area vice president for the Visayas
  • Shirley Domingo, vice president for the Corporate Affairs Group
  • Gilda Diaz, vice president for the Office of the Actuary 
  • Oscar Abadu Jr, vice president for the Member Management Group
  • Jonathan Mangaoang, corporate secretary 

Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers then said that the House committee on public accounts – which is jointly holding the probe along with the committee on good government and public accountability – should also ask PhilHealth regional officers to sign bank secrecy waivers.

House committee on public accounts chair Mike Defensor agreed and ordered the committee secretariat to write letters to all PhilHealth board members, executive committee members, and regional officers to ask if they were willing to let the AMLC look into their bank transactions. 

PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales himself was present via Zoom, but he signed out before he could answer Villafuerte’s question as he was supposedly “not feeling well,” according to the committee secretary of the public accounts panel.

The top PhilHealth official  has been staunchly defending himself and other executives from accusations of corruption.

Morales earlier asked to be excused from physically attending the second Senate hearing on the PhilHealth corruption scandal as he has been undergoing chemotherapy since May.

Two other officials also cited health reasons to take a break from the hearing: PhilHealth executive vice president and COO Arnel del Jesus  had to replace the battery of his pacemaker, while PhilHealth legal sector chief Rodolfo del Rosario Jr was said to have high blood pressure. They have not returned as of this posting.

Later in the hearing, Defensor ordered the committee secretariat to issue show cause letters to Morales, De Jesus, and Del Rosario on why they should not be held in contempt for stepping out during the hearing.

The committee will subpoena all PhilHealth officials to secure copies of their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).

Malacañang: ‘Nothing irregular’

In a statement on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Malacañang found nothing anomalous with the large sum of IRM funds given to SPMC.

“We find nothing irregular in the PhilHealth Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) allocation of Southern Philippines Medical Center,” he said. 

Roque echoed the DOH, noting that the SPMC housed specialty centers like the Heart Institute, the Institute for Women and Newborn Care, the Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Institute, the Cancer Institute, the Intensive Care Complex, main hospital for General Medicine and Surgery, and one of the largest hemodialysis centers in the country, with 65 chairs. 

Roque said SPMC “has the highest PhilHealth income, breaking the billion mark.” 

“Its average income for 2018-2019 is P1.2-B and IRM is based on the monthly average or the track record of reimbursement for 2018-19. Historically, SPMC has had the biggest amount of claims due to its regular provision of healthcare services to patients all over Mindanao,” he said.

Controversies in the PhilHealth prompted both the Senate and the House to kick off their own investigations on the state health insurer.

In the first House probe held last week, lawmakers called for the abolition of PhilHealth’s all case rate policy, arguing it costs the government some P102 billion in overpayments and is an “unjust enrichment” scheme for hospitals.

Whistleblowers also told senators that PhilHealth executives may have pocketed around P15 billion through fraudulent schemes and bloated its IT sector budget by at least P734 million.

Senators on Tuesday, August 11, slammed the “inequitable” Interim Reimbursement Mechanism, which they said have become a tool for politics and corruption within PhilHealth.

PhilHealth vice president for operations Augustus de Villa – one of the officials facing corruption allegations – already tendered his “irrevocable resignation” but promised to cooperate during the congressional probes. – Rappler.com

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Mara Cepeda

Mara Cepeda specializes in stories about politics and local governance. She covers the Office of the Vice President, the Senate, and the Philippine opposition. She is a 2021 fellow of the Asia Journalism Fellowship and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the UN. Got tips? Email her at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or tweet @maracepeda.