Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga has called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to expedite its investigation into the alleged involvement of a Koronadal City neurologist in a massive medical insurance scam and in the alleged 2018 attempt to kill Ang Magsasaka Partylist Rep. Argel Cabatbat.

Barzaga aired the appeal as the House Committees on Public Accounts and on Good Government ended their inquiry into Cabatbat’s accusation that Dr. Mark Dennis Menguita was the brains behind his ambush in Quezon City.

During the resumption of the congressional inquiry into the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. fund anomalies, Cabatbat claimed that one of the three gunmen who died during the incident gave an ante-mortem statement linking Menguita as the one who hired him to kill Cabatbat.

Barzaga said Cabatbat’s allegations are serious and merit immediate investigation.

In the same hearing presided by Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, former Philhealth internal auditor Ken Sarmiento exposed the alleged P1.6 billion scam on the faking of Philhealth  receipts for medical insurance conbribution of thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers.

Sarmiento reported his discovery to his superior, Dr. Cynthia Camacho but both were later fired for unknown reasons.

“Natanggal po ako at ang boss ko dahil sa nadiskubre namin (My boss and I were fired because of what we found out),” Sarmiento told the House panel.

Meanwhile, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers called on Thusday for a deeper investigation into the involvement of Philhealth officials in the P600 million late payment to hospitals with rejected claims from 2011 to 2019.

Barbers disclosed that the irregularity has been going on since 2011 with the participation of various hospitals in different parts of the country. Since 2011, various hospitals all over the country have been claiming payments from Philhealth. 

Philhealth, through its Protest Appeals and Review Department, (PARD)  has rejected over P4 billion in claims during the year.

However, for still unknown reasons, the PARD reversed itself and decided to grant the appeal of hospitals for payment.

Acting on the PARD resolution of various cases, the Philhealth board granted the request of several hospitals and authorized payment of over P600 million in claims.

 “With the lame excuse of helping these hospitals cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, they suddenly became generous and considerate after years of neglecting these claims,” noted Barbers.