PhilHealth ‘ghost claims’ whistleblowers now state witnesses

Sy has been charged before the courts by the NBI with multiple counts of estafa through falsification of public documents. (File Photo: @pnagovph/Twitter)

MANILA — The two whistleblowers on the ghost dialysis claims scam hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) have been provisionally admitted to the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“They have been provisionally admitted into the WPP (witness protection program), good for 90 days, pending investigation,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters, referring to Edwin Roberto and Leizel de Leon.

Roberto, who used to be the assistant manager of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center, claimed in his sworn statement that it was WellMed co-owner Brian Sy himself who ordered him on March 30, 2016 to try to charge PhilHealth with claims of two dead patients amounting to PHP2,600.

It was allegedly de Leon whom he instructed to prepare the forms.

Prior to his resignation in March 2018, Roberto revealed that the state-run social health insurance firm paid WellMed a total of PHP600,600 consisting of 200 sessions for dead patients.

Sy has been charged before the courts by the NBI with multiple counts of estafa through falsification of public documents.

A preliminary probe for estafa and falsification of public documents against WellMed executives Dr. John Ray Gonzales, medical director; Claro Sy, chairman; Alvin Sy, corporate treasurer; Therese Francesca Tan, purchasing officer; Dick Ong, administration officer; and physicians Dr. Porshia Natividad and Joemie Soriano remain pending.

On Tuesday, Guevarra said Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III has reiterated his readiness to work with government investigators to ensure that there will be no stones unturned in looking into a scam by unscrupulous organizations and individuals preying on the state social health insurance firm.