BY VANNE TERRAZOLA
There is no “palakasan” system in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (Philhealth) cash advances to health care facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III assured on Tuesday.
Duque also maintained that he has “zero tolerance” for fraud and corruption.
The Department of Health (DoH) chief virtually attended the Senate Committee of the Whole’s third hearing on the alleged rampant corruption and irregularities in the PHilHealth, following the senators’ call for his explanation and position on the controversies hounding the agency.
Duque concurrently chairs the PhilHealth Board of Directors, which oversees the use, disbursement and management of the country’s health insurance funds.
In his opening statement, he said “PhilHealth is a program very close to [his] heart” as he recalled his father and former health secretary, Francisco Quimsom Duque Jr.,who first came up with medical care plan for Filipinos.
“Its precursor, the Medicare, was the brainchild of my late father, former Sec. of Health Francisco Duque. Consequently, my commitment to safe guarding the sustainability of the fund is very personal,” Duque said.
“I would like to state for the record that I am for zero tolerance on fraud and corruption,” he told the Senate panel.
In his defense, Duque also enumerated his anti-fraud initiatives during his leadership of the Philhealth in 2001, in 2005 to 2008, and up to his current stint.
He also responded to the claims of corruption against the PhilHealth during the legislative investigations, specifically on the issues raised about the agency’s implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), which was questioned for alleged favoritism to select non-COVID-19 hospitals.
“On the allegations of palakasan (favoritism) system in the IRM, we assure you, there is none,” he said. (Vanne Terrazola)
