Dispatch from Crame No. 860:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the Resignation of 3 Officials of PhilHealth due to Corruption

7/26/20

The recent news about the resignation of three PhilHealth officials due to alleged corruption and administrative failures in the agency may be shocking but not really surprising. Sinasabi lamang ni G. Duterte na laban siya sa korapsyon. Pero pag tao niya ang involved, parang bulag at bingi siya sa mga pangyayari. Dahil sa talamak na korapsyon na hindi inaaktuhan ng administrasyong ito, nawawalan na ng pag-asa ang ating mga tapat na public servants.

Some of Duterte's favorite men are involved, if not directly responsible for the sorry state the PhilHealth is in now--retired B/Gen. Ricardo Morales, under whose watch PhilHealth implemented rate hikes at the expense of OFWs who remain one of the worst-hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, and sacred cow Sec. Francisco Duque who had come under fire in June 2019 for allegedly allowing a PhilHealth provincial office to rent land belonging to his family.

Sec. Duque's record of incompetence under this administration has been well-documented. With him as PhilHealth's Chairman, it was only a matter of time before he run it to the ground.

On August 2019, I filed Senate Resolution No. 62 which sought to investigate the widespread corruption and mismanagement in PhilHeath amounting to billions of pesos - to the prejudice of our National Health Insurance and Universal Health Care programs.

And just recently, I filed Senate Resolution No. 461 to shed light on PhilHealth's failure to release the insurance proceeds to hospitals - which would inevitably produce a rippling and crippling effect in their capacity to deliver their services most essential in the time of pandemic.

Tiyak na mayroon na namang muling iaabswelto ang Pangulo para may masisi ang taumbayan. Ganito na kalala ang kalakaran ngayon. Maging ang salitang "accountability" natokhang na rin sa PhilHealth. Ang litanya ni Duterte na "galit ako sa corrupt" ay naging punchline na lamang ng isang masamang biro sa sambayanang Pilipino.

PhilHealth plays a key role in our ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. PhilHealth must ensure that the hospitals, the doctors, and the healthcare professionals are paid in a timely manner to ensure that the quality and, more importantly, the availability of their services do not suffer. Kapag bumagsak ang PhilHealth, mawawala ang mga serbisyong medikal na inaasahan ng marami nating kababayan lalo pa ngayon sa panahon ng pandemya.

This rampant corruption in the PhilHealth with the President's apparent tolerance while many are languishing in poverty will go down in history as one of Mr. Duterte's worst legacies to the Filipino people. ###

Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 860, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._860