Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday refuted allegations linking her to anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
The opposition senator said the allegations are mere diversionary tactics as the Senate plunges into a deeper probe of corruption issues surrounding the State health insurance agency Tuesday.
Hontiveros said she believes such information being floated by blogger Mocha Uson, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) deputy administrator, was meant to divert public attention from the anomalies committed by the current officials of PhilHealth.
“Limang taon na akong wala sa PhilHealth. According to the whistleblower himself, it all happened in 2019, eh hindi na ako nakaupo noong 2019 (I was no longer with PhilHealth in 2019,)” Hontiveros said in an interview over GMANews TV.
“Siguro dahil malakas ako ng kritiko ng Presidente, at wala na sila mabato sa akin, kaya kahit ilang taon na ako wala sa PhilHealth, cleared ng Commission on Audit (CoA), cleared ng PhilHealth mismo, patuloy pa rin ang pagpapakalat ng fake news sakin sa social media, ng mga fake news peddlers gaya nila Mocha Uson (Maybe because I’m a vocal critic of the President and they have nothing to throw at me, even though I was no longer with PhilHealth, I’m cleared by CoA, cleared by PhilHealth itself, fake news peddlers like Mocha Uson will persist in propagating fake news in social media),” she stressed.
She also belied claims Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, accused her of any involvement in the corruption issues in PhilHealth.
“Wala rin naman akong nabalitaang may sinabing ganoon si Sen. Bong Go sa akin (I didn’t receive any information that Sen. Bong Go was saying something like that about me),” she said.
“Kaming lahat ay nakatuon sa Senate Committee of the Whole sa imbestigasyon para tukuyin kung mayroon at sinu-sino ang miyembro ng isang grupo o mafia na gumawa ng korapsyon at nagpabaya sa pera ng mamamayan (All of us are focused on the Senate committee of the whole’s investigation to identify who are the members of the group or mafia within the agency who is involved in corruption and are wasting public funds),” she said.
The lawmaker said the Senate would leave no stone unturned to find the people behind the supposed mafia within PhilHealth, as well as its protector.
"Wala tayong sasantuhin, walang sacred cow, walang exception. Aalamin namin kung sino ang bumulsa (ng pondo) at siguraduhing ibalik sa taumbayan ang pera nila (We will not spare anyone, no sacred cow, no exception. We will know who pocketed public funds and will make sure to give this back to the people),” she said.