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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PH Red Cross reminds Philhealth of P623-M debt for COVID-19 testing

PH Red Cross reminds Philhealth of P623-M debt for COVID-19 testing

Published Dec 2, 2020 01:04 pm

Senator Richard Gordon on Wednesday said the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) still owes the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) some P623-million for the COVID-19 testing.

Senator Richard Gordon (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Gordon, chair and CEO of the humanitarian organization, said the standing debt of the state health insurance agency with the PRC is now P623,321,000 as of December 1.

“It’s really non-payment of bills on time that is killing us here. They owe us, as of Dec. 1, P623-million. It’s a moving target,” Gordon said in an interview over ANC Headstart.

So far, PhilHealth was able to pay PRC a total of P700-million for the COVID-19 testing, after they temporarily halted their testing of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other government-sponsored testing.

It resumed operations after PhilHealth paid the initial P500-million, and another P100-million.

Gordon reiterated that the PRC and PhilHealth agreed that the bill should be settled within three days upon receipt.

PhilHealth President Dante Gierran, he said, assured him that the agency has “plenty of money” and will be able to pay the organization but he is still disturbed over PhilHealth’s inability to pay on time.

“I don’t want to be a hog and say unahin niyo ako (prioritize us), but you see, I have no choice…I really worry for the hospitals. If they don’t pay us, then we are forced to stop,” Gordon said.

“And when we are forced to stop, as you see, (cases in) Manila is rising. Hindi ako nagmamalaki, hindi po akong mukhang pera. Ang sinasabi ko lang po, 37 percent ng Manila ang tine-test ng PRC (I’m not bragging, I’m not greedy. I’m just saying that PRC is testing 37 percent of the population of Manila),” he pointed out.

President Duterte earlier scored PRC for being greedy for money for stopping the testing when PhilHealth’s debt ballooned to P1.1-billion.

But Gordon rejected the remark but said he is giving the President “the benefit of the doubt.”

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