DEPARTMENT of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, denied allegations of corruption against the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), saying he has “zero tolerance” for it.
Duque also sits as chairperson of the PhilHealth Board.
“PhilHealth is a program very close to my heart. I am for zero tolerance on fraud and corruption,” Duque said during the Senate committee of the whole hearing.
He said that when he was president and CEO of PhilHealth in 2001, he signed a memorandum of agreement with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the investigation of fraud cases within the agency.
As chairman of the PhilHealth board from 2005 to 2009, he was able to create task force “Kisapmata” which scrutinizes “verified claims on copyright related cases and conducts investigations on alarming trends.”
“Currently, as chairman of the PhilHealth board, we approved the recommendations of the health insurance data analytics committee to resolve significant weaknesses in PhilHealth,” he said.
In the same hearing, Duque denied that PhilHealth had P154 billion in losses.
“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 P154-billion loss,” Duque sAID.
“In fact I am presenting to you this June 10, 2020 letter from COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo, confirming that there is no such finding in the published COA annual audit reports,” he added.
Duque also denied that 300 PhilHealth accredited hospitals were not reimbursed as claimed by the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc.
He said PhilHealth denied only the claims of hospitals with insufficient requirements. (SunStar Philippines)