The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Thursday, Dec. 29, maintained that the handling of its funds is being done in a “prudent” manner.
“We assure the public that PhilHealth is prudent in administering its funds, and ensure that meeting our financial obligations, especially the payment of benefit claims, is always our top priority,” said PhilHealth Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Atty. Eli Dino Santos in a statement.
The state health insurer made the pronouncement after the Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the ruling of the Commission on Audit (COA) that disallowed the provision by PhilHealth of at least P83.06 million for educational assistance and birthday gift benefits to its employees in 2014.
Santos said that PhilHealth “acknowledges” this decision of the Supreme Court.
“We wish to inform the public that PhilHealth immediately discontinued the subject allowances after receipt of the Notice of Disallowance from COA,” said Santos.
“The subsequent benefits given to our employees have since been aligned with those prescribed under the Salary Standardization Law IV, and now with the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS) issued by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG),” he added.
The PhilHealth official, however, maintained that these benefits were given in “good faith.”
“We maintain, however, that those allowances were given in good faith, above board, not extravagant and most of all, well deserved by the hardworking officers and employees of the state-insurer,” he said.
“Meantime, we will be waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court on our Motion for Reconsideration filed last December 20, 2022. PhilHealth will fully comply with the directive of the Court once issued with finality,” he added.
Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said she also coordinated with PhilHealth Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. regarding this issue.
“I already have instructed PCEO Ledesma from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation na sila po ay makipag coordinate na with the concerned agencies, especially the Commission on Audit para maipatupad na natin ang desisyon ng Supreme Court (to coordinate with the concerned agencies, especially the Commission on Audit so that we can adhere to the decision of the Supreme Court),” she said in a press briefing on Thursday.
“Ang isa din sa instruction natin sa kanila ay makapagpalabas sila ng commitment sa taong-bayan na sila ay tutupad sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema (Also, one of our instructions to them is that they issue a commitment to the people that they will comply with the decision of the Supreme Court),” she added.