The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is working round-the-clock to uncover the alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and hold accountable those who are involved.
PACC commissioner Greco Belgica said the investigation into PhilHealth is not yet over and appealed to the public for a little more patience.
The anti-corruption commission is part of the inter-agency task force investigating the alleged corruption in the state health corporation. An initial recommendation included the filing of administrative and criminal complaints against several top ranking PhilHealth officials over alleged irregularities in the fund disbursement and procurement of information technology equipment.
"PhilHealth's investigation is far from over. We are pursuing other leads based on other evidence," Belgica said.
"We ask for a little more patience because we are working 24/7 para hulihin at makulong ang mga korap na ito (to catch and jail those who are corrupt)," he added.
He said the PhilHealth probe cannot be rushed since they must thoroughly gather evidence and hold accountable those who are involved in the anomalies. He assured that no one will be spared in the investigation.
"Justice and vengeance are not the same thing, and we fight for the Filipino people para tuluyang mawala ang mga mapang-abusong lider na patuloy na nakakaupo sa ating gobyerno (to completely weed out the abusive leaders in government)," he said.
The task force is expected to submit its other findings and recommendations to the President, Belgica said.
"Lahat iimbestigahan, walang lalagpasan. Ito ang pilit namin ipinaglalaban dahil we support the President towards a better Philippines (Everything will be investigated. No one will be spared. This is what we're fighting for because we support the President towards a better Philippines)," he said.
He said they have so far found many problems in PhilHealth, from the alleged anomalies in the information technology system to its accounting system.
"Yung accounting system nila may problema din. Yung IT system naman, hindi lang pala fraud validation ang problema. Kaya kailangang hukayin talaga para makita lahat ng butas. Aayusin po ito ng PACC at ng Task Force PhilHealth (The accounting system is problematic too. In the IT system, the fraud violation is not only the problem. That's why we must dig deeper, find the loopholes. The PACC and the rest of Task Force PhilHealth will fix this)," he said.
The President has recently approved the recommendation of the Department of Justice-led panel to file complaints against former PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales and other senior officials over the alleged anomalies in the state firm. Duterte said he was "sorry" for these officials but they must undergo trial.
The task force had earlier found that some PhilHealth officials were negligent in the discharge of their duties, including the release of Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) without monitoring fund use and liquidation. They also questioned the PhilHealth officials' failure to check and penalize irregularities by agency personnel and healthcare institutions.
The task force has recommended the filing of criminal complaints for alleged graft, malversation of public funds, and tax violations. Administrative charges have also been recommended for alleged dishonesty, gross neglect of duty and misconduct, falsification of documents, disloyalty, inefficiency, and incompetence.