No P154-B loss, IT budget finalized in PhilHealth: Duque

Duque made the statement before the Senate Committee of the Whole on PhilHealth issues per Resolution Nos. 461, 474, and 475. (PIA file photo)

MANILA – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Tuesday that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) did not incur a PHP154-billion loss over the years due to various forms of fraud.

Duque made the statement before the Senate Committee of the Whole on PhilHealth issues per Resolution Nos. 461, 474, and 475.

Resolution No. 461 discusses PhilHealth’s failure to release benefit payments to its accredited hospitals which led to their closure while Resolution No. 474 delves about the widespread corruption which includes the PHP154 billion loss over the years of various forms of fraud, PHP102.5 billion loss due to overpayment and IT budget issues.

Meanwhile, Resolution No. 475 presents the rampant corruption, incompetence, and inefficiency of the state-run insurance company.

“I have clarified this before the Blue Ribbon Committee last year, but I will repeat it to set the record straight. There is no such thing as a PHP154-billion loss,” Duque said.

Duque presented to the committee a letter from COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo dated June 10, 2020, confirming the absence of such findings in the published Commission on Audit (COA) Annual Audit Reports to validate the allegation.

On the issues about PhilHealth’s 2020 Information Technology (IT), Duque said there has been “no release of funding for the project since everything is still at the proposal stage”.

“This is precisely because we need a more complete analysis of both hardware and software infrastructure needed by PhilHealth,” he said.

To put PhilHealth back on track, Duque recommended a complete overhaul of its Information Systems Strategic Plan.

“I supported the recommendation that the audit findings be investigated by a fact-finding committee. This was echoed by other board members and it was agreed that a fact-finding committee be created,” he said.

The Board has yet to decide on the implementation of the IT project prior to the release of government money and after the details of Philhealth’s 2020 ICT plan have been scrutinized.

Duque confirmed that the PhilHealth management received an Internal Audit Group report that showed the discrepancies in the IT budget proposal that earlier have been reconciled.

“I will direct the management to present this soonest so PhilHealth can move forward in its much-needed operations,” he said.