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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Their loss, not ours, if PhilHealth execs fail to appear at next Senate hearing -- Lacson

Their loss, not ours, if PhilHealth execs fail to appear at next Senate hearing -- Lacson

Published Aug 8, 2020 01:32 pm

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Saturday the feared failure of top officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to appear at the next hearing on alleged anomalies at the State-run health insurance corporation would be their loss, not the Senate.

Senator Panfilo M. Lacson (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

‘’…simply because they won’t be there to respond to new issues that the resource persons and some new incriminating documents in our possession,’’ Lacson said, referring to the scheduled second public hearing by the Senate Committee of the Whole where top PhilHealth officials had been told to return on Aug. 11.

‘’We may never be able to explain the persistence of corruption in PhilHealth because greed knows no logic,’’ he added.

On Friday, President Duterte directed the Department of Justice (DoJ) to head a multi-agency probe into alleged widespread multi-billion-peso corruption at PhilHealth as revealed by a whistleblower, lawyer Thorrson Montes Keith, resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud officer.

Ranking PhilHealth officials were also suspended pending the outcome of the DoJ probe.

Lacson, likewise, joined the family of retired Brig. Gen.  Ricardo C. Morales, 67, beleaguered president and chief executive officer of PhilHealth, who is fighting the ‘’Big C’’ (cancer).

‘’In all sincerity, I join his family in praying for his recovery. It is unfortunate that these new corruption issues have exploded at a time when his health condition is at its low point,’’ he added.

Morales, a Philippine Military Academy (PMA) 1977 graduate, was once an aide de camp of former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos and member of the anti-Marcos Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM).

‘’Get well soon,’’ Sen. Christopher Lawrence ‘’Bong’’ Go told Morales during a DWIZ radio interview yesterday.

Go said he has been hearing about Morales having medical problems.

He expressed optimism that Morales would cooperate and ‘’tell all’’ as he Morales had admitted that there are problems plaguing the country’s medical agency.

Go, nevertheless, tried to abbreviate his comments, adding that the Filipino people should await the result of the investigation on PhilHealth by the Malacanang-created Task Force headed by the DoJ.

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