The House Committees on Public Accounts and on Good Government are hoping the three-day detention of lawyer Rogelio Pocallan Jr. of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will serve as a warning to resource persons invited in congressional hearings to be “truthful and forthright” in responding to questions from lawmakers.

Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Michael Defensor, chairman of the public accounts panel, said the motion to cite Pocallan in contempt of the House of Representatives and the subsequent penalty of three days of detention was passed unanimously by the two House panels inquiring into allegations of massive fraud linking Philhealth personnel and officials.

Pocallan was already released from House detention after serving his three-day contempt penalty.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga’s motion to cite Pocallan in contempt earned bipartisan support from members of the majority and minority blocs present during the virtual joint hearing on Thursday. 

During the hearing, Pocallan, senior manager of Philhealth’s Internal Legal Affairs Department, admitted that he recommended to the Philhealth board the imposition of an alternative penalty of fine on Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Medical Center for violation of rules some time 2012 to 2016.

The Philhealth lawyer said he gave his legal opinion despite the fact that the state insurer already had been upheld by the  Court of Appeals in imposing a suspension of the hospital’s accreditation.

“The declaration of  Atty Pocallan in contempt and detaining him for three days was a collective vote of the Committees on Public Accounts and Good Government and Public Accountability based on  a motion of Congressman Barzaga,” recalled Defensor.

He explained that it is the belief of the joint panel that Pocallan’s legal opinion that “Philhealth may reverse an order of the Court of Appeals given its quasi-judicial function deceitful and dishonest.”

“We hope that in the coming hearing and the future investigations that will be conducted, our resource persons will be truthful and forthright with their replies so as not to diminish the hard work of the individual members and the collective effort of the committees involved,” Defensor said.

Barzaga, formerly a law professor, said Pocallan’s behavior during the hearing constituted “disrespectful conduct or behavior” of the Hosue proceedings.

The joint congressional panel is expected to invite Pocallan again when it resumes its probe this week.

The two committees are set to look into the alleged activities of the so-called Mafia of the South (MOTS) that is allegedly behind the fund anomalies that caused Philhealth billions of pesos losses. 

Rodolfo del Rosario, recently resigned senior vice president for legal affairs at Philhealth, said several changes in Philhealth leadership have also been authored by the MOTS.

Ang Magsasaka Partytlist Rep. Argyll Cabatbat will confront Dr. Mark Dennis Menguita, a neurologist from Region XII,  whom he accused of being behind an attempt to kill him in an ambush in Quezon City last year.