The Senate should call for the presence of the Commission on Audit (COA), the Governance Commission on GOCCs (GCG), and the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement Service (PHILGEPS) in the next hearing to shed light on the various reports of losses and anomalies within the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said on Wednesday.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Angara said it is imperative that the Senate, acting as a Committee of the Whole, invite state auditors and representatives from the two other agencies so they can confirm that they will conduct a special audit on PhilHealth, particularly on its controversial information technology (IT) project, which reportedly is overpriced.
“This is called for or has support under the Universal Healthcare Law. It also has support under the GCG (GOCC Governance Act of 2011) law where the head of the GCG can call for a special audit of any government corporation,” Angara said during the Senate’s hearing on the corruption issues hounding PhilHealth.
“I think it’s about time we look in depth not just at the macro, but the micro situation,” the Senate Finance Committee chief reiterated.
Angara said that while he agrees that PhilHealth needs to invest in a strong IT system in order to crack down on fraud and improve overall efficiency, its leadership should have ensured there would be no overpricing.
Because instead of verifying the information regarding the overpriced IT system, Angara noted PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales responded to the claims by the whistleblowers by demonizing them and saying they have axes to grind.
“Many whistleblowers are far from being perfect and blow the whistle for highly partisan or political reasons. He may be right that they may have suspect motives but the issues they raise may also be valid and he should make the most of the information given,” Angara said.
“He asks for support for greater spending on IT yet matamlay siya dito sa issue ng overpricing. He has to be more outraged,” he added.
“We need to invest in IT but it should not be an investment in a black hole na hindi natin nakikita saan napupunta yung pera (where we can’t see where the money is going).
“Kailangan may hangganan (There should be a), may finish line. Ano yung roadmap? What are we aiming for? It must be finite; it must be definite,” Angara said.
He also said there is a necessity to investigate whether PhilHealth officials claim that their financial statements are not manipulated and that they complied with the COA recommendations and findings is true by having their documents thoroughly scrutinized by the state auditing agency.
“I think it was (senior) vice president (Renato) Limsiaco (who said) that they have complied with the COA recommendations and findings. Kung hindi pa nabibigay sa COA ito as soon as possible mabigay na ito sa COA and sa next hearing we can invite the COA para magtagisan sila ng mga findings nila at mga claims nila (If these documents have not yet reached COA, it should be submitted as soon as possible, so that in the next hearing, we can invite COA and have them battle over their findings and claims),” he said.
With PhilHealth’s actuarial services disclosing that its reserves will run out in 2021, Angara said drastic action is needed to immediately thwart any mafia and corrupt practices from thriving within the agency.
He said Congress appropriated approximately P400-billion for PhilHealth in less than a decade—excluding premiums—thus, the need to put in place stronger safeguards and better systems to safeguard the funds.
“PhilHealth has shown weak institutional checks and balances as it has been plagued over the years by fraud, scandals, and scams such as those involving cataract and dialysis claims and now this,” he said.