Wednesday, January 09, 2008 No new dev’t on probe on ghost meds
AFTER an inquiry that spanned the last quarter of 2007, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7’s investigation on the alleged ghost purchase of medicines at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in 2004 remains pending.
While an agency source said there is prima facie evidence that medical prescriptions were forged and later used as basis for the disbursement of government funds amounting close to P3 million, James Yrastorza, one of the witnesses the bureau tapped, flipped.
Yrastorza earlier said in an affidavit that it was James Cuenco, son of Rep. Antonio V. Cuenco, who conspired to siphon funds from the Tony N’ Tommy Project, a free medicines program for indigents that Cuenco funded with money from his pork barrel.
He said he reported the matter to the congressman but the latter didn’t act on it.
No more liability
But in an exit conference with investigators the Commission on Audit (COA) in Manila sent last September, Yrastorza cleared James of any liability in an affidavit, saying the congress-man’s son didn’t appear to have any knowledge of the forgeries and the subsequent use of the forged document to cause the disbursement of funds.
“We’re now trying to complete the cast of characters of this story,” the agency source said.
Yrastorza’s conflicting affidavits, together with two reports COA prepared on the subject, are with the NBI.
Based on COA documents, a total of P2.986 million in funds allocated for the program was lost because of the anomaly.
The program sought to give free medicines to indigent patients from Cuenco’s district. Those who wanted to take advantage of the program needed to obtain two documents—an approved referral form and a prescription issued by a VSMMC doctor.
The medicine was claimed from Dell Pharmacy, owned by businessman Wendell Villacin, who retained both referral slips and the medical prescription and attach these to accomplished delivery receipt and sales invoices in order to claim payment at the VSMMC cashier, the depository of the program’s funds.
COA report
Based on the COA report, the prescriptions and the claim payments were all forged.
No medicine was actually given away but funds for the program were slowly being siphoned out.
“One hundred six fictitious patients were given prescriptions of anti-rabies vaccines totaling P2,986,037.20 by forging the physician’s signatures as confirmed by the concerned doctors,” the COA report found.
COA auditors established the anomaly by matching the names indicated on the records with those listed on the logbook of the hospital social worker who controlled the referral slips. (KNR)
