"There appears to be more to the WellMed whistleblowers than they want the public to know."
"There appears to be more to the WellMed whistleblowers than they want the public to know."
There is a world of difference between ill-will and noble intentions.
The two are at cross purposes. One seeks to destroy; the other seeks to protect and preserve.
I say this in light of allegations made by two purportedly conscience-stricken former employees of a dialysis laboratory who claimed all they wanted was to make a clean breast of what they know about the firm.
To be candid about it and with all due respect, I have this disturbing reservations over the apparent haste with which the government-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHIC) pulled the plug on the accreditation of a dialysis center on the basis of a yarn dished out by two so-called whistleblowers.
It appeared that PHIC or PhilHealth, in an attempt to save its own skin and conceal its potential culpability for criminal neglect that gave rise to recurrent incidents of fake benefit claims, acted with political expediency in summarily suspending the accreditation of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center Corp.
PhilHealth was shooting from the hip, so to speak, as it handed down the administrative measure on the heels of the whistleblowers’ raw testimony.
What if at the end of the day the story given by Edwin Roberto and Liezel Aileen de Leon turned out to be untrue? Then, WellMed’s constitutionally guaranteed right to due process could have been grossly violated.
What if after an honest-to-goodness investigation and after giving the WellMed owners their day in court, it were proven that the center’s operations were aboveboard and beyond reproach?
The allegations against the dialysis clinic and PhilHealth’s reaction to the charges raised more questions than answers.
Even assuming that PhilHealth realizes its mistake and reinstates WellMed’s membership, the damage to the reputation and dignity of the center’s owners has already been done.
Collaterally, its patients were unceremoniously displaced and its employees, particularly those performing odd jobs like janitorial services, were economically dislocated.
How do we rectify this potential error in judgment?
Documents furnished this corner by WellMed’s legal counsels showed that Roberto and De Leon who were both formerly mid-level officers of the dialysis center had an axe to grind against their employer.
Roberto was hired in October 2015 as branch assistant manager with a job description of “over-all in-charge” of the clinic while De Leon was hired on July 27, 2015 as PhilHealth/billing officer and cashier.
The documents indicated that Roberto and De Leon cheated WellMed on cash payments from patients who have used up their free 90-dialysis sessions.
“Mr. Roberto and Ms. De Leon would issue fake official receipts and acknowledgment receipts to patients paying in cash and receive their payments straight to their own pockets instead of depositing the same to WellMed’s bank account,” the document stated.
To cover up for the theft, the duo allegedly “connived in engaging in the corrupt scheme of falsifying dead patients signatures to file claims and thereafter receive reimbursements from PhilHealth that would then be deposited in WellMed’s account,” the same document revealed.
According to the documents, De Leon and Roberto were actually “live-in” partners and have a child. “These cements this conspiracy and their motivation to commit the forgeries,” the owner of WellMed added. Incidentally, De Leon is married to another man.
Counsels said the irregularity began in 2017 after management turned down requests by Roberto and De Leon for salary increase on the ground of poor performance and weak financial condition.
Since then, the couple’s performance started to be erratic and below par, prompting management to call their attention.
The lawyers said they also have evidence to prove that Roberto and De Leon who have since resigned plotted to sabotage WellMed through disparaging remarks and rumor-mongering.
“Roberto and De Leon also falsely claimed that WellMed owed its very survival to their efforts,” the owner of WellMed said.
“They are obviously pathological liars whose words should be taken at face value,” the owner of WellMed stressed.
As of this writing, this columnist has been trying to get the side of WellMed’s former employees—to no avail. We would welcome any response from the Roberto and De Leon and give them an equal space here should they send us any comment or reaction to their former employer’s version of the story.