Senator Francis Pangilinan on Saturday sought the help of the Commission on Audit and the National Bureau of Investigation to secure pertinent documents needed in the probe in connection with the Philippine Health Insurance scam.
“A member of the media has told us that PhilHealth documents are being destroyed in Regions 1, 3, 8, and 11,” Pangilinan said.
“As among those who filed a Senate resolution asking for an investigation into the PhilHealth billion-peso scandal, we ask the authorities, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Commission on Audit, to help secure those documents now,” he added.
The opposition senator said the destruction of the said documents was equivalent to burying the body of the victim of their crime. “Their destruction is another set of crimes.”
He said the destruction of PhilHealth documents that most likely revealed who pocketed the people’s money was obstruction of justice (Section 1b of Presidential Decree 1829); removal, concealment or destruction of documents (Article 226 of the Revised Penal Code; Art. 226 above was amended by Republic Act 10951, Section 44 with higher penalty); and a violation of the National Archives Law (RA 9470).
“We call on Health Secretary (Francisco) Duque, who is chairman of the PhilHealth board, to show leadership now and order to secure the documents. We call as well on the other Cabinet secretaries on the PhilHealth board to act now and ensure that the documents are intact,” said Pangilinan.
Reports showed that several documents and computers in the Philhealth Region I office in Pangasinan, which is under investigation for failing to act on at least 200 fraudulent claims, were destroyed.
“There is enough reason to suspect that the destruction of documents and records caused by the roof leaks in the PhilHealth’s regional office in Pangasinan was intentional,” said Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the roof leaks seemed to be part of a cover-up to hamper ongoing investigations. He called on the NBI to get to the bottom of the roof leaks.
“We urge the Executive and the Ombudsman to immediately implement the suspension orders and appoint trust worthy OICs so that the important documents can be protected,” he said.
Lacson posted on his Twitter Account that took a shot at Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, chairman of PhilHealth, who had told a Senate hearing that he would do some soul searching if his efforts fell short of people’s expectations.
“Soul searching is only for people who have souls,” Lacson said on Twitter.
“Corruption in PhilHealth to take advantage of a pandemic is worse than the deadly coronavirus itself because of its evil intent and purpose.”
Lacson said he counted Duque among the “soulless” because he didn’t do anything in his capacity as ex-officio chairman of PhilHealth about the corrupt practices in the state-owned insurance agency.
“Billion peso question is why?” Lacson said.
During a Senate hearing this week, Duque was also grilled about the unabated increase of COVID-19 cases. He said he was doing his best to address the pandemic.
