There is a clear case of collusion in and overpricing of information technology (IT) hardware bid out at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and they must made to pay, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said today.
This after Etrobal Laborte, former Head Executive Assistant of cancer-stricken former Brigadier General Ricardo Morales, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of PhilHealth, revealed instances of malpractices at PhilHealth during a public hearing by the Senate Committee of the Whole today.
Lacson, vice chairman of the Senate Committee of the Whole, said these alleged ‘’malpractices’’ are very suspicious.
Laborte, a Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduate like Morales and Lacson, cited IT contracts were split and were awarded to a single calculated bid.
He also said contracts would go to a single contractor when there are no other bidders who arrive at bidding time.
Bid prices usually are near the approved budget of PhilHealth, he added.
For a PhilHealth approved P40 million budget for a certain item, the winning bid price is just less than P1 million, Laborte noted.
Laborte also stated that he has discovered that only the lowest bidder would win in the many IT projects from 2018 to 2019 that he has reviewed.
During the hearing, Laborte said he questioned a plan of PhilHealth to buy CISSCO catalyst network switches worth P420,000 since his inquiry into the actual price in the open market of the same product showed they should cost only P62,000.
This item costing P420,000 is not a car but this apparatus with 24 holes could be carried by a five-year-old child, he added.
Laborte, likewise, said PhilHealth had planned to buy obsolete network switches.
Jovito Aragona, PhilHealth senior vice president and chief information officer tried to refute Laborte’s allegations but Lacson thwarted this move because Laborte’s allegation is that PhilHealth wanted to buy outdated hardware or hardware that is no longer in the market.
Laborte resigned from PhilHealth last July 15 because he said he could not stomach the stench of corruption at PhilHealth.
He is an IT expert and worked at an IT office at the United Nations.