Philippine Health Insurance Corporation president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales denied on Tuesday that he was coddling an alleged syndicate which benefits from the irregularities in the agency.
"I deny that I am the coddler of the wrongdoers in PhilHealth," Morales said when asked by Senator Grace Poe during the Senate Committee of the Whole's investigation on corruption and other irregularities in his agency.
Poe raised the "strong" accusation against Morales as she inquired about the PhilHealth chief's efforts against corruption since he was appointed to the state-run corporation a year ago.
Morales had asked for an executive session to specify to the senators his action plans to rid the PhilHealth of corruption.
Later in the hearing, he said he had asked at least three PhilHealth executives to take a leave of absence while investigations were ongoing. He said he also ordered the transfer of officials in regional offices to pave the way for the conduct of impartial probes.
Earlier, resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer Thorrsson Keith, who had made an allegation that there was "widespread corruption" in the agency, claimed that Morales "may have become the or may have been the new leader of the syndicate in PhilHealth".
In his July 26 letter, he said Morales had appointed members of the "PhilHealth syndicate who perpetrated the WellMed ghost patient dialysis" scheme that was discovered last year.
In Tuesday's hearing, Keith claimed that the members of the PhilHealth syndicate include the agency's top executives.
PhilHealth board member Alejandro Cabading, who also spoke about the alleged anomalies in the agency, identified four PhilHealth officials as being part of the so-called "mafia": Senior Vice President (SVP) for Fund Management Sector Renato Limsiaco; SVP for Legal Sector Atty. Rodolfo del Rosario; SVP for Management Services Sector Dennis Mas; and PhilHealth Board of Directors Corporate Secretary Jonathan Mangaoang.
"These are the people who are manipulating things inside, eh...These are the people who have influence inside in putting people around," Cabading claimed.
The mentioned officials denied Cabading's accusations.
"I have nothing to do with any fraud or any corruption in the corporation and if Mr. Cabading is not able to substantiate his allegations, we will take the necessary legal actions," Del Rosario said.
"We should not just take for granted that he will just announce names of people here when we are the ones fighting the syndicate," he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Morales said that there are currently 20,000 complaints for fraudulent claims lodged in the PhilHealth legal sector.
"Ang corruption po sa PhilHealth, dati na ho ito at hindi madaling isolve ang korapsyon ho na ito (This corruption in PhilHealth has long been here and it is not easy to solve)," he said.
He insisted that the IT project being questioned by authorities would solve the long-prevailing problems of the PhilHealth on corruption.