PCSO chief seeks probe over ‘special treatment,’ ‘ghost beneficiaries’

PCSO chair Ayong Maliksi (Facebook photo)

MANILA – With reports over unqualified patients and ghost beneficiaries receiving benefits, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Chair Ayong Maliksi wanted a review of the agency’s individual medical assistance program.

“While others line up from dawn to seek assistance and only receive a fraction of what they need, some patients supposedly close to some officials of the agency have had all their medical bills covered while confined in expensive hospital suites,” Maliksi said in an Inquirer.net report.

“Guarantee letters are provided to these patients three to four times a month without the patient or his or her relatives being interviewed by a social worker as required,” he added, mentioning that these letters were ‘received and released on the same day’ and were processed by the favored patients’ drivers or personal assistants.

The PCSO chair  disclosed reports that ‘those who have connections receive up to more than P1 million in financial help from the PCSO,’ even only at least 10 percent of patients’ hospital expenses were covered by the program. He noted that he already knew who these patients were – and they all resided in exclusive subdivisions.

Maliksi also received word about ‘ghost beneficiaries of medical assistance, which is harder to establish because of the bulk of the transactions.’

While unqualified patients and ghost beneficiaries easily received thousands of pesos in medical assistance, regular patients waited in long queues as they had their documents processed for them to avail the PCSO’s benefits.

The PCSO chief then vowed to launch an investigation over the irregularities in the program.