PhilHealth mess: Raps filed vs 4 execs for OFW payment scam

MANILA, Philippines, February 20 ------ Despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to clean up Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), some of its officials are still engaged in scams that have defrauded the government of some P16 million in contributions from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), according to former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. So on Wednesday, Roque and PhilHealth whistleblower Ken Sarmiento filed cases against four officials of the health insurance firm for graft, dereliction of duty, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, grave abuse of discretion and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Charged were Senior Vice President Dennis Mas, Acting Vice President for Member Management Group Narisa Sugay, Vice President for National Capital Region Gilda Salvacion Diaz and former executive vice president Ruben John Basa. Roque and Sarmiento also called on the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend the respondents while the investigation of the complaint was going on.

In a complaint, Sarmiento, former head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency-Overseas Filipino Professionals (POEA-OFP) Operations Office, detailed the scheme in which some liaison officers of recruitment agencies and some PhilHealth employees defrauded OFWs by faking receipts, making the workers believe that they had paid their P2,400 yearly contribution. The payments, according to Sarmiento, were pocketed by some liaison officers and PhilHealth employees.

The complaint came as PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales urged the National Bureau of Investigation to conclude its investigation of the fake receipts issued to migrant workers so that the health insurance agency could sanction any official who may have bene­fited from or failed to take action on the irregularity. Morales said the state insurance firm investigated the scam in 2015 and found that it was the “liaison officers of the employment agencies” who were behind the fabrication of PhilHealth official receipts (PORs) issued to OFWs.

PhilHealth’s findings were turned over to the NBI then as Morales said that the agency had an agreement with the law enforcement agency that the bureau would work on and pursue the filing of criminal cases. “When we contacted them recently, they told us that it’s ongoing,” Morales told reporters on Wednesday. Given that it was not only the OFWs but also PhilHealth that fell victim to the scam, Morales said it was high time the NBI resolved the matter, especially in light of the graft charges filed in the Ombudsman against four high-ranking PhilHealth officials. When asked if the officials allegedly involved in the latest complaint still enjoyed his trust and confidence, Morales said that he would go with the evi­dence.

Source: inquirer.net