By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The flow of information about the corruption in the PhilHealth creates the impression that among all the government agencies under the Duterte administration nothing can beat this agency in terms of corruption.

Employees and employers in this country are required by law to contribute each month to PhilHealth to help the members cushion the high cost of hospitalization. The administrators of this agency are merely custodian of the members’ money and for these officials to steal the fund can only be described as greed without limits.

According to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, PhilHealth released funds up to P3 billion per week that are susceptible to fraud, the instrument of greed. At P12 billion a month, a 10% cut is enough to give a dozen officials sufficient money to spend for life. But greed is beyond limit because corruption is insatiable.

The annual fund of PhilHealth is P150 billion. There are claims that as much as P15 billion has been plundered at the agency under present management, by the so-called Mindanao Mafia.

Despite the irregularities that were exposed last year and some hints of it from several years ago before the Duterte administration took over, corruption in PhilHealth continued. PACC claims that the sleaze persisted because the system has not been changed.

PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica told the Senate that the “issue of PhilHealth is extreme. The stealing is extreme and the shamelessness is extreme.” He claimed the problem of corruption has infiltrated PhilHealth at all levels.

He accused all in PhilHealth of “corruption from top to bottom”. There had been talks about the scams but only after a whistleblower came out that the stench exploded.

The mere removal and change of officials will not clean the PhilHealth stable of its dung. Indeed, Belgica admitted that “if General Morales is removed, it won’t matter because it won’t address the problem as corruption in PhilHealth goes from head to toe.”

Ricardo Morales, an army retired general appointed by President Duterte heads the agency in a double capacity as the president and CEO. As an army general, his highest management experience is as camp commander of Fort Bonifacio, the Army headquarters. An insider in the army says the general’s main job was to take care of waste disposal at the sprawling camp in Quezon City. He is the chief basurero.

During the Senate hearing, Senator Grace Poe questioned Morales’s qualifications and his experience in the health sector. Morales replied, “I am a senior citizen, ma’am. That’s the only contribution I can show.”

Is being a senior citizen a qualification in an agency of PhilHealth’s nature? So the bigger question is: why was he appointed to a position that at least should require basic knowledge of the actuarial science?

Belgica stressed that to “reach the core of the problem, rather than just cut off its head, everyone, from top to bottom, must face charges, face consequences, and must be replaced.”

We can believe the charge of Belgica about an agency-wide corruption when he claimed “there is almost no case filed by PhilHealth against erring officials. There are over 200 cases not acted upon to this day.”

Aside from the on-going Senate investigation, the PACC submitted on August 3 report to President Duterte on the findings of its investigation into PhilHealth’s system. The report recommended either the firing or the filing of cases against 36 individuals over alleged irregularities within the agency.

If Belgica’s claim is true, then this number identified for filing of corruption charges is only a tiny tip of the malaise in that agency.

The corruption in PhilHealth is a direct challenge to President Duterte who pledged that aside from his war against illegal drugs he would rid this country of corruption. The audacity of the officials he appointed to PhilHealth, despite their lack of qualification, is probably anchored on their belief they are untouchable. They had no qualms about bleeding the agency of millions of money that the country needs during this pandemic. They qualify as worse as the drug lords.

Unfortunately for them, the President declared he would run after the grafters. Indeed their boldness must be proven wrong. They placed the President in a situation that he cannot tolerate a direct test of his sincerity. It’s now the President’s move.