The Department of Justice (DOJ)  has formed an inter-agency task force which will investigate the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) over allegations of corruption, it was announced on Friday, Aug. 7.
 
“The task force will probe reported anomalous activities in the PhilHealth and its regional offices,” said the DOJ in a statement.
 
Called “Task Force PhilHealth”, the DOJ said it was created pursuant to the directive of President Duterte who ordered Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday to investigate alleged corrupt activities at the government corporation.
 
“Secretary Guevarra will head the task force which counts the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President as its members,” the department said.
 
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) were also tapped to support the task force.
 
“The task force will discharge these functions in close collaboration with other relevant offices, such as the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission,” the DOJ said.
 
The DOJ said the job of the task force includes “speeding up ongoing investigations and special audits, recommending necessary personnel movements at the PhilHealth, and examination of the corporation’s existing IT system.”
 
“It will conduct lifestyle checks on key PhilHealth personnel and examine their financial transactions, and file administrative and anti-graft cases as may be warranted,” the department said.  
 
“It can also preventively suspend personnel as necessitated by its investigation,” the DOJ added.
 
In a memorandum addressed to Guevarra and dated Aug. 7, Duterte directed the secretary to “organize a panel for the conduct of an investigation on the various allegations of corruption and anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), including the audit of the PhilHealth finances and conduct of lifestyle checks on its officials and employees.”
 
“The DOJ shall have the authority to require other agencies and instrumentalities of the government to be members of the panel or to assist in its work. It may also seek the assistance of the constitutional commissions and other independent government bodies, and even invite them to be members of the panel,” read the memorandum.
 
“During the course of the investigation, if warranted, the panel may recommend to the President the imposition of preventive suspension on any PhilHealth official to ensure the unhampered conduct of the investigation,” the President instructed.
 
Duterte gave the panel 30 days starting from the completion of its membership to submit to him “its findings and recommendations, which shall include, proposed legal actions against officials and employees found responsible for acts of corruption and anomalies in PhilHealth.”
 
Though the Ombudsman, Commission on Audut (COA), and Civil Service Commission (CSC) are independent constitutional bodies, Guevarra assured that all three willingly agreed to join the inter-agency task force.
 
“I personally talked to their respective heads today, respectfully sought their assistance, and graciously invited them to join us in the task force. All of them accepted our invitation without any reservation or condition and promised their full support,” the secretary said .
 
While the investigation is ongoing, Guevarra said “the independent constitutional bodies will perform their core functions as part of the task force.”
 
“The COA will audit, the CSC will provide guidance on personnel actions, and the Ombudsman will investigate and prosecute anti-graft complaints that the task force may file. Nothing ultra vires (beyond legal power). They will just perform these core functions in concert and in collaboration with the executive department, and with a particular target agency in sight,” he explained.