Senators on Tuesday quizzed Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales for promoting officials despite their involvement in previous anomalies in the agency.
During the Senate Committee of the Whole's inquiry on the alleged anomalies within the state health insurer, Senator Francis Tolentino lamented the promotion of at least 20 PhilHealth officers figured in the "ghost dialysis" scandal and other controversies that put the agency in hot water.
"Hindi na pinag-resign (They were not told to resign). Hindi na pinag-suspend, ipinromote pa (Not even suspended but instead promoted). Palagay ko po, Gen. Morales, kailangan pong maipaliwanag natin ito. (I think Gen. Morales we should be able to explain this)...Eh bakit naman po kailangang i-promote pa. (Why did you have promote them)?" Tolentino asked the retired general.
Before this, Tolentino recalled President Duterte's June 2019 directive for PhilHealth executives to tender their courtesy resignation to cleanse their ranks following the discovery of the fraudulent kidney treatment claims.
He also reminded Morales about a related board resolution calling for the resignation of all PhilHealth officials with Salary Grade 26.
Morales said the President's order, however, covered only members of the PhilHealth board.
On the board resolution, the PhilHealth president said he had reservations to ask for a mass resignation of the SG-26 executives because "in my opinion it would be too disruptive to the corporation".
Morales added that as far as he was concerned, no charges were filed yet against the PhilHealth officials who were applying for promotion.
"I think po 'yong nirerefer ninyong na-promote, wala pong kasong na-file sa kanila. (those you were referring to as promoted, no cases were filed against them)...These people, ito pong 20 na ang-submit ng information sa NBI, were not facing a case (These people, the 20 names submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation, were not facing a case)," he said.
"With the best of my knowledge po wala pong administrative na kaso, wala rin pong na-file na kaso sa korte (I know there were no administrative cases and criminal cases filed against them in courts)," he maintained, noting the executives were protected by civil service rules.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, however, negated Morales and said complaints were lodged against four PhilHealth officers implicated in the "ghost dialysis" scam involving WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center last year.
He named Rizza Herrera, who was promoted as senior manager of Accreditation Department; Bernadette Lico, who was promoted as senior manager of Corporate Planning Department; Recto Panti who promoted as branch manager of PRO NCR North; and Cheryl Wellan who was promoted as senior manager of the Human Resource Department.
Sotto also identified a certain Lora Mangasar who was promoted senior manager of the Protest and Appeals Review Department, despite being a respondent in graft, usurpation, and grave misconduct complaints linked to the reaccreditation of Perpetual Succor Hospital.
"I'm not aware po that they're facing cases. This is the first time that I have heard for that," Morales said in response.
"Don't you think that is included in due diligence when you promote officers? It's in the news. You, as President and CEO, you're not aware of the cases against these people? They should be answerable to the cases first before you promoted ," Sotto, however, said.
Morales maintained that he was not informed about the charges, "Ang nasabi po sa akin walang nafile na kaso (What was said to me was that there were no filed charges)."
When Sotto pressed who "lied" to him about the information, Morales said: "Iche-check ko po sino nagsabi sa akin (I will check who told me that)."
Later in the hearing, Dennis Mas, PhilHealth senior vice president for management services who handles human resources, said the charges against the PhilHealth employees should not prevent their promotion.
He cited the rules of the Civil Service Commission, which states that the "pendency of an administrative case against any employees shall not be a bar for promotion."
Only those serving the penalties for their charges are prohibited from being promoted.
He also pointed out that complaints against the four PhilHealth officials involved in the WellMed case are still pending in the Department of Justice. "No case or formal charges were issued yet," Mas said.
The promotion, he added, was based on the "competence and performance record for the years served in the corporation", among other qualifications.
Senator Grace Poe, meanwhile, scolded Morales for his supposed lack of effort to address the alleged corruption schemes in the PhilHealth.
She asked Morales to enumerate his anti-corruption efforts since he was appointed to lead the state-run corporation in June, 2019.
The latter gave a rather general response of "conduct a review of all the cases and investigat all the reports of discrepancies in agency". He refused to give specifics on the cases and asked for an executive session to be able to discuss it.
Morales also admitted that he has yet to fire a PhilHealth official figured in corruption.
"Hindi malinaw ang anti-corruption efforts (The anti-corruption efforts were not clear)...Kung talagang seryoso (If you were really serious), sasabihin mo this is step number 1, this is step number 2. But it seems that it's at the top of your head," Poe told Morales.