Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said on Tuesday the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) report that was provided and shared with Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menandro Guevarra and the composite task force ‘’was put to good use, to say the least.’’
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Lacson made the comment on the submission yesterday to President Duterte by Guevara who headed the Task Force of its recommendations on multi-billion-peso losses due to graft at the state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
The COW report, including documents the Senate had gathered during its three public hearings on PhilHealth, recommended the prosecution of all those involved in the scandal.
Francisco Duque III is the ex-officio chairman of the PhilHealth Board whose duty is to monitor the implementation by the PhilHealth leadership of its policies.
Senators had pounced on Duque for not being active as board chairman in supervising PhilHealth whose top officials were tagged as the ‘’internal Mafia.’’
The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) had reported that PhilHealth suffered P153 billion losses due to graft from 2013.
‘’This is good reason enough to feel gratified that we did our share in taking the first big step in making those criminally and administratively liable for the misuse and abuse of public monies accountable,’’ Lacson said.
‘’At least, for a change, we can hope that these ‘vultures” will suffer for their misdeeds to satisfy their greed at the expense of the sick and the unhealthy among our countrymen,’’ he added.