Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday, August 25, disavowed a Senate panel report Senator Richard Gordon earlier shared with reporters, in which criminal charges were recommended against former health chief Janette Garin, former budget chief Florencio “Butch” Abad, and former PhilHealth president Alexander Padilla.

“Am I missing something? I am a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee. I don’t think I have seen, much less signed the panel’s committee report on PhilHealth,” Lacson said in a tweet late Tuesday.

“I can only be sure that Senate President Vicente Sotto III is almost ready to route to the senators the report of the Senate Committee of the Whole,” Lacson added, referring to the separate, more recent probe into alleged corruption in PhilHealth.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gordon released an executive summary of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s report on its August 2019 investigation into PhilHealth. Gordon is the head of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

In the report, Gordon recommended the filing of criminal charges against Garin, Abad, and Padilla for allegedly diverting the P10.6-billion PhilHealth Senior Citizen Fund in December 2015 to other projects.

The projects included the planned construction of thousands of barangay health stations, rural health units, national government hospitals, and the procurement of mobile dental trucks.

Gordon said these projects were barely completed, and he suspected the money was used to bankroll electoral campaigns ahead of the May 2016 national polls.

Garin and Padilla already faced a graft case before the Office of the Ombudsman in May 2018 over the same allegations.

Abad vehemently denied allegations of irregularity. He said the release of P9.39 billion for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program’s barangay health stations, rural and urban health centers, and dental equipment was legal and above-board.

Abad questioned the timing of Gordon’s release of his committee’s findings, saying the recommended charges against him were “baseless, built on nothing but unfounded accusations.”

The August 2019 Senate blue ribbon committee probe is separate from the recently concluded investigation of the Senate committee of the whole, headed by Sotto. The investigations focused on different, albeit related, alleged instances of corruption in the state health insurer.

Sotto on Tuesday told reporters his panel is finalizing its report, which he plans to release next week. The committee of the whole includes all 24 senators. – Rappler.com