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Sotto assures P71-B fund for PhilHealth

Philippines | National

Sotto assures P71-B fund for PhilHealth

By Mario Casayuran

Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III assured that government would allocate P71 billion to fund the graft-ridden Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Sen. Vicente Sotto III (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Sotto said he had discussed with Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Wendel Avisado the state of affairs at PhilHealth and bared that there is a P71-billion allocation for the State health insurance agency.

“Don’t worry, sa mga kababayan natin, 'wag tayong mag-alala dito sa 2021 budget, pinaguusapan namin,’’ he added.

(My countrymen, don’t worry. We talked about the budget)

Sotto issued the statement following fears that PhilHealth is now on its death throes after the failure of its officials to stanch the flow of questionable disbursements and stop corrupt practices.

“At saka maraming pang natitira ang PhilHealth, may pondo, talagang masama lang ang pag gamit,” he said.

(PhilHealth has a big amount of funds at its disposal but its expenditures have been bad)

“Kaya nga napigilan na natin ‘yun, pipilitin nating mabawi ‘yung iba, kung hindi man, we can help. Government will be able to help our own corporation,’’ he added.

(We were able to stop the flow of questionable disbursements, we will try to redeem those questionable expenditures. Government will be able to help our own corporation)

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) had estimated that PhilHealth lost some P135 billion due to graft since 2013.

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