BY RAYMOND AFRICA and GERARD NAVAL
A SENIOR vice president of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Thursday submitted his irrevocable resignation “effective immediately” while the state insurer’s embattled president and chief operating officer, Ricardo Morales, said he is not resigning.
Morales said he is staying in his post to fulfill his mission to rid the agency of fraud.
Augustus de Villa, who resigned as PhilHealth senior vice president for operations, did not say why he resigned.
De Villa’s resignation comes amid allegations of irregularities in the state-run health insurer, particularly billions in overpayments to hospitals and overpriced purchases, which the Senate and the House are investigating.
De Villa attended the Senate investigation last Tuesday. He furnished Senate President Vicente Sotto III a copy of the resignation letter he sent to Morales, dated August 6. “The vice chairman (Morales) knows fully well the reasons. I briefed him earlier today at his residence in Taguig City,” he said in the letter.
Morales confirmed he talked with De Villa earlier in the day, and said the resignation was brought about by stress from the latest controversy hounding the agency.
“We were subjected to a 10-hour grilling by the Senate and I think we have been vilified there. I think that added to the tension, and he said that he wanted to spend more of his time with his family. I respect his decision and I’m grateful for his candor,” Morales said in a press conference.
De Villa assured both houses of Congress that he will attend the ongoing investigations.
De Villa, during last Tuesday’s Senate hearing, was accused by PhilHealth board member Alejandro Cabading of ripping six pages of a resolution awarding an alleged grossly overpriced procurement of 15 network switches from P62,000 to P320,000.
De Villa, in his defense, said he was trying to recall where the documents are, which prompted Sotto to subpoena the documents on the request of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
Sotto said De Villa “must have a very good reason for resigning in the midst of the controversy,” adding he will now convince him to tell all what he knows in the PhilHealth issues for the sake of the people.
Lacson said he hopes De Villa will be part of an advocacy group within PhilHealth, which will expose more anomalies.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said all senior executives of PhilHealth should follow De Villa “out of delicadeza.”
“But unless (Health Secretary Francisco) Duque resigns, then we will see little or no progress in effectively managing the pandemic,” Pangilinan said.
‘JUST STICKING IT OUT’
Morales, in a hastily called virtual press conference on Thursday afternoon, said he is staying as long as he has the trust and confidence of President Duterte.
“My family has been begging me to resign already. But I am here serving at the pleasure of the President. Until I’m needed, like a good soldier, I’m just sticking it out,” said Morales.
“The instructions to me is to stay here,” he added.
He said he wants to fulfill his mission when he was appointed to the post more than a year ago, which is to rid the agency of corruption. He said solving the corruption problem in the state-run health insurer cannot be accomplished instantly.
“Reforms do not happen overnight. It needs a special and sustained effort to weed out fraud that is deeply rooted,” he said.
Asked if he believes that there is an ongoing “demolition job” against the agency and himself, he said it is no longer a new thing.
“It has become an annual event already. About the same time last year, there was also an investigation, where PhilHealth was also roasted,” said Morales.
PhilHealth spokeswoman Dr. Shirley Domingo, asked about allegations that Morales is part of a fraud syndicate at the agency, said that based on his work history, Morales “was a graft buster.”
“So I don’t think any corrupt practices in the corporation will be able to elude him,” she said.
Last Wednesday, Lacson said he has reason to believe that Morales has become part of the agency’s syndicate, based on testimonies of two of three whistleblowers in the Senate inquiry.
Morales, asked about other PhilHealth officials intending to quit, said: “If there are employees or executives who want to resign, I cannot stop them. I would like to keep them of course. But that is an individual choice, which I don’t have control of.”
As to resigned anti-fraud legal officer Thorsson Montes Keith, Morales said PhilHealth’s legal office is exploring the possibility of filing charges against him.
“Of course, he signed a confidentiality clause when he was here. He revealed inside information. We will see what we can do about that,” said Morales.
Rodolfo del Rosario, PhilHealth senior vice president for the Legal Sector, said regardless of the decision of the agency, members of the executive committee intends to file libel charges against Keith.
“The whole ExeCom will file charges against him for libel. He cannot invoke his legislative immunity because he actually went around media stating those lies, those fabrications,” said Del Rosario.
“Even if the Corporation decides against filing charges against him as an entity, the members of the ExeCom, on our personal capacity, will file charges or complaints against him,” he added.
Keith has accused senior PhilHealth officials of having “pocketed” some P15 billion via the interim reimbursement mechanism.
Morales has already denied such allegations, saying Keith was merely a disgruntled job order employee.
“His malicious claims not substantiated by evidence were obviously made to malign officers that rejected his ambitions for higher offices, which he is not qualified for,” PhilHealth said in a statement.
To recall, the latest controversy hitting PhilHealth stemmed from Keith’s resignation letter wherein he cited, among others, the massive corruption in the agency as reason for quitting.
TRANSCRIPT
Lacson told Malacañang to take a look at the transcript of Tuesday’s Senate hearing so it will have an idea about the extent of corruption in the agency.
Lacson issued the statement in response to President Duterte’s pronouncement that he will not fire Morales unless he has evidence of corruption against the latter. He said the Senate can send the transcript to the President.
Lacson said the Senate is conducting an investigation because it wants to help the President rid the government of corruption.
“Sabi niya noong araw just a whiff of corruption, pag nakaamoy ka lang, you’re fired. This is not just a whiff of corruption (The President once said ‘just a whiff of corruption,’ if just he smells [corruption], you’re fired. This is not just a whiff of corruption),” he said.
The Senate committee of the whole last Tuesday conducted a hearing on three issues now hounding PhilHealth — anomalous distribution under the interim reimbursement mechanism, overpriced purchases of information technology equipment, and manipulation of financial statements. Last year, the Senate investigated the agency’s anomalous payments to dialysis centers.
Lacson said the corruption in PhilHealth is organized as it has been going on even during past administrations.
“It’s systemic. This has been going on for the longest time. Even during the incumbency of past presidents and CEOs. Kung whiff of corruption lang hinahanap ng Presidente as in the case of other officials, ang whiff di ba kaunting amoy lang eh. Yan ang definition ng whiff (It’s systemic. This has been going on for the longest time. Even during the incumbency of past presidents and CEOs. If the President is looking for just a whiff of corruption, as in the case of other officials, isn’t it that whiff means just a slight smell. That’s the definition of whiff),” Lacson said.
