{"id":263767,"date":"2020-08-02T05:11:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T09:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=263767"},"modified":"2020-08-02T05:11:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T09:11:35","slug":"pacc-finds-systematic-flaw-in-philhealth-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/02\/pacc-finds-systematic-flaw-in-philhealth-system\/","title":{"rendered":"PACC finds \u2018systematic flaw\u2019 in PhilHealth system"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Amid corruption allegations, PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales refused to resign, saying there is still a lack of evidence to prove these claims. (File Photo<\/a>: Philippine Health Insurance Corporation\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has found a “systematic flaw” within the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which led to recurring corruption within the state insurer.<\/p>\n

PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica made this statement following the resignation of PhilHealth Anti-Fraud Legal Officer Thorrsson Montes Keith due to alleged widespread corruption within the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be a systemic flaw\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0sistema\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0PhilHealth\u00a0kaya napakahirap<\/em>\u00a0but\u00a0parang paulit-ulit, paulit-ulit\u2026 hindi matigil ang korapsyon kasi<\/em>\u00a0basically insurance fraud (There seems to be a systematic flaw in the system of PhilHealth which is why it\u2019s so difficult, which is why corruption keeps recurring and doesn\u2019t stop),\u201d he said in a Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday.<\/p>\n

According to Belgica, they had \u201cspecific cases\u201d to validate their theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0marami hong nakinabang<\/em>\u00a0and we have specific cases\u00a0na hawak<\/em>\u00a0to validate and to prove our theory and recommendation\u00a0kung ano po ang dapat baguhin sa sistema<\/em>\u00a0(There were many who benefited and we have specific cases to prove our theory and recommendation what to change in the system),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He refused to elaborate on the results of their investigation but pointed out that their findings involved issues in the state insurer’s information technology (IT) system and legal services.<\/p>\n

\u201cAyoko munang sabihin sa publiko ngayon. Siguro<\/em>\u00a0after\u00a0na lang po mag<\/em>-decide\u00a0ng ating Pangulo at mabasa niya ito<\/em>. Basically, IT eh, IT ang isyu. Malaking isyu rito po iyong<\/em>\u00a0IT\u00a0nila,<\/em>\u00a0and then\u00a0iyong<\/em>\u00a0legal services\u00a0po nila<\/em>\u00a0(I don\u2019t want to disclose it to the public now. Perhaps after the President makes a decision and reads it. Basically, the issue lies within its IT services and legal services),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Belgica said there were also \u201cdefects\u201d within the system which were not corrected by officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya iyon<\/em>, withdrawal\u00a0lang nang<\/em>\u00a0withdrawal\u00a0iyong mga<\/em>\u00a0whether it\u2019s a hospital or it is a patient na manloloko sa PhilHealth. Tapos ang PhilHealth naman parang bulag na hindi nakikita iyong mga — actually, hindi lang parang, pero sa dami nang nawala eh talagang nabulag na sila sa mga ganitong paraan (Hospitals or patients are defrauding PhilHealth with withdrawals. But the PhilHealth seemed to be blind to these missing funds),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said PACC has prepared to submit a report to President Rodrigo Duterte on the results of its investigation over the PHP221 billion in funds to implement the Universal Health Care law on Monday.<\/p>\n

The PACC has identified at least 30 individuals involved in corrupt activities, he added.<\/p>\n

Amid corruption allegations, PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales refused to resign, saying there is still a lack of evidence to prove these claims.<\/p>\n

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate Health Committee, said Morales still has Duterte\u2019s trust and confidence.<\/p>\n

The Senate will hold an investigation into alleged irregularities hounding the state insurer starting Tuesday (August 4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has found a “systematic flaw” within the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which led …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":204928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263768,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263767\/revisions\/263768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}