The Senate has called on the Office of the President to order immediately the preventive suspension of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) top officials and those involved in alleged corruption and irregularities in the agency.

Senators unanimously adopted the Resolution No. 502 introduced by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Wednesday, as its Committee of the Whole wrapped up its legislative inquiries in the new controversies hounding the PhilHealth.

The resolution also called for the immediate suspension of PhilHealth officials responsible for the delay in the submission of documents that were needed in the investigations and audit being conducted by the government agencies.

It likewise urged the task force led by the Department of Justice to recommend the same to the President.

Zubiri said the resolution covered the Philippine president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales and vice presidents, as well as members of the executive committee.

"The Executive Branch, with its exercise of supervisory powers over PhilHealth, must preventively suspend the officers of PhilHealth responsible for possible obstruction of justice and violations of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, in order to allow the NBI and COA to secure the pertinent records they need in order to perform their duties and properly investigate the alleged corruption within the insurance agency," the measure read.

"Allowing these PhilHealth officials to remain in office may give them time to tamper with, conceal or destroy important records, and further hamper the investigations of the NBI, COA, the Ombudsman, the Senate and House of Representatives on their exercise of oversight powers and inquiries in aid of legislation, and other investigative bodies conducting investigations on PhilHealth," it added.

Various agencies, as well as both houses of Congress, have been investigating the the PhilHealth after anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith accused that a so-called "mafia" has been orchestrating “large-scale corruption” within the corporation.

Among others, senators questioned the state insurer's releases to non-COVID-19 hospitals under its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism, the plan to procure an allegedly overpriced information technology equipment, and the alleged mismanagement of the country's health insurance funds.

The PhilHealth's lack of cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Commission of Audit (COA) was also tackled when Director Cleotilde Tuazon of the COA lamented that the agency "refuses" to give them bidding documents and other agreements that they need for their audit and examination.

"The PhilHealth’s unwillingness to cooperate with regard to the submission of records could qualify as obstruction of justice... a blatant violation of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines," the resolution said.

All senators have been made co-authors to the measure.

Meanwhile, Senate leaders have lauded the reported order of the Ombudsman for the preventive suspension of former and incumbent PhilHealth executives amid the issues.

"That is great news! A small victory in our fight against the corruption in the Government’s Health Insurance agency. I totally laud the Ombudsman on this," Zubiri said in a text message sent to reporters.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said, however, that while the Ombudsman's order was welcome, he said other officials might have been forgotten.

"It is good and a welcome sign that the Ombudsman has suspended a number of PhilHealth officials but I'm just suprised that two or three of the officials who are right in the middle of the controversies are not included in the suspension. That surprises me," Sotto said before the adoption of the resolution.

He then named Morales, and Senior Vice President for funds management Rene Limsiaco, Jr. and Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jovita Aragona.

Zubiri agreed with Sotto, and said he hopes that the suspension of the three officers will follow suit after the Senate has released its recommendations.

Senator Grace Poe also pressed for an overhaul in the leadership of PhilHealth.

"I hope in the coming days, there will be better appointments of the ones who will lead our agencies—based on qualifications, reputation, and not recycling certain individuals to different departments even if that’s not their specialty. And the President is saying he has zero tolerance for corruption," she said in an earlier forum.

Sotto told his colleagues that he will draft the Committee of the Whole's reports and will present the report to the plenary next week.