Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales on Tuesday retracted his denial that he was in the online meeting late last month that triggered new claims of corruption within the agency.
During the Senate's investigation of the alleged irregularities in the PhilHealth, Senate President Vicente Sotto III confronted Morales about his statement in a radio interview last July 24 that he was not present in the Zoom meeting when PhilHealth officials reportedly engaged in a "shouting match".
"Bakit sinabi mong wala kayo doon eh, nandoon kayo (Why did you say you were not there when you were present in that meeting)?" Sotto asked.
"I confirm po na nandoon ako (that I was there in the meeting). Baka iba po 'yong narefer ko, na may ibang taong nire-refer na wala nandoon (I might have been referring to another person who was not there)," Morales said.
"I must have been misquoted by I was not in that meeting," he added.
Sotto rejected Morales's "misquoted" claim and said he was personally listening to the radio interview. "I was listening to you, you were not misquoted. I was listening to you on the radio."
"Well, hindi ako nagparticipate sa Zoom na 'yon, ngayon ko lang narinig 'yan so hindi ako makaka-kwento (I did not participate in that Zoom meeting, I only heard of that issue now so can't tell you what happened)," Sotto quoted Morales, reading part of the interview transcipt wherein Morales was asked about the meeting.
In response, Morales shifted to his belief of a "shouting match". The PhilHealth chief said that while they may have had a heated exchange in the meeting, he did not think that it was a shouting match.
"I think it was the description na nagkasigawan (that there was a a shouting match) because in my recollection hindi nagkaroon ng sigawan (we were not shouting at each other)," he said.
It was then that he admitted that, though, he had "quite" a heated exchange with PhilHealth Board Member Alejandro Cabading.
Cabading said it was him who raised his voice out of frustration over Morales' "lawyering" of the PhilHealth officials behind the allegedly overpriced P2.1-billion information technology project.
Cabading and other members of the Philhealth had questioned the budget proposal for the project for lack of justifications on how the funds willl be spent.
Morales had repeatedly endorsed it for the board's approval.
During the hearing, Morales defended the P2.1 billion project, saying it was key in improving the PhilHealth's services and addressing the problem with fraudulent claims.