The Philippines: PhilHealth execom is real ‘mafia’ – Ping

• The Senate is set to release on the week of 23 Aug 20 its report on the alleged multibillion-peso anomalies at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), with a recommendation to prosecute members of a “mafia” whom Sen. Panfilo Lacson said comprise the agency’s executive committee.
• He said the report is being finalized by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who chaired the specially convened Senate committee of the whole, where all senators are members.
• The committee wrapped up on the week of 16 Aug 20 its inquiry that included alleged corruption in the disbursements of the multibillion-peso interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) and the reported overprice in the purchase of information technology (IT) equipment worth PHP2.1bn.
• Lacson said the two anomalies appeared to have been orchestrated by members of the executive committee, led by PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales.
• Aside from Morales, whom the senator pointed out to have admitted during a hearing that he authorized the IRM disbursements to certain hospitals, others in the committee are fund management sector senior vice president Renato Limsiaco; information management sector SVP Jovita Aragona; and information technology and management sector senior manager Calixto Gabuya.

External Link : https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/08/24/2037460/philhealth-execom-real-mafia-ping