Two senators raised a howl Friday over “roof leaks” that happened to destroy several documents and computers in the Region I office of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in Pangasinan, which is under investigation for failing to act on at least 200 fraudulent claims.
“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, who advised the Presidential Anti Crime Commission (PACC) investigator in the area to seek the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation.
He also urged the PACC to immediately conduct forensics on the damaged portion of the building to determine if the water leaks were deliberately done.
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.
Meanwhile, the PACC said it is already investigating the roof leaks, noting that PhilHealth Region I is under investigation over its alleged inaction on at least 200 alleged fraudulent claims, some of them involving “ghost patients.”
Earlier in the day, 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.
“There was never a time that I never tried my best but if my best is not enough, I just have to do some more reflection and soul searching and I will be the first to let everyone know that we need to learn,” Duque said.
The Cabinet official, whose resignation had been sought by senators, said his lapses in the pandemic response were not deliberate.
Duque was also tagged by a whistleblower as the “godfather” of the mafia within PhilHealth but he said the allegation was baseless and malicious.
Meanwhile, the dialysis center B. Braun Avitum denied on Friday it owned a bank account in Bataan province where PhilHealth allegedly deposited some P9.7 million as payment for the dialysis center’s services.
“B. Braun Avitum is in no way involved in the PhilHealth credit of P9.7 million to a rural bank in Balanga, Bataan. We do not own a bank account in any bank in Balanga, Bataan,” the statement said.
Payments to B. Braun Avitum “have always been deposited online” to Deutsche Bank in Manila, the company said.
Senate hearings earlier showed that PhilHealth officials from Cagayan deposited P9.7 million to the account of “B. Braun Avitum” in the Balanga Rural Bank covering the “reimbursement of claims for 12 consecutive periods” from May 2 to 22, 2020.
B. Braun Avitum also denied that it was charging for the dialysis of non-existent or “ghost” patients.
“B. Braun Avitum has absolutely no ghost machines in any of the centers we operate,” the company said.
They said that 25 dialysis centers in Luzon provide at least 27,000 treatments to 3,000 patients.
The company also denied allegations that it claimed to cater to COVID-19 patients to get advance deposits from PhilHealth through the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM), which prepositions payments to health facilities affected by “fortuitous” or unforeseen calamities.
“B. Braun Avitum applied to avail of the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) fund in good faith, based on guidelines from PhilHealth,” it said.
It also said that only five of its 18 IRM applications were approved.
“The company did not misrepresent our application for IRM funds to be used for the treatment of coronavirus patients,” it said.
B. Braun Avitum was accused of being the repository of PhilHealth’s illegal disbursements after investigations showed that the dialysis center received millions of COVID-19 funds even when it was not catering to coronavirus patients.
Lacson had argued that dialysis treatments and maternity care services should not be part of the IRM since these are not considered “fortuitous” events.
Duque has ordered a review of the IRM after conceding to senators that there may be something wrong in its implementation.
Earlier this week, the Senate terminated its investigation into alleged irregularities in PhilHealth, saying PhilHealth executives should just appear before the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, which are also looking into the case.
Also on Friday, Senator Manuel Pacquaio rejected calls to privatize PhilHealth, saying it would counter the very purpose of providing socialized health care for all Filipinos especially the poor.
“Privatizing PhilHealth would make it a profit-driven organization just like all other private health insurers,” Pacquiao said.
He warned that this would immediately affect Philhealth members who would have to pay higher premiums. As a result, it would deny the poor affordable health care.