DOJ joins probes of PhilHealth mess. Inquirer Newsletter. August 8, 2020

No images? Click here   GET THEIR MOTOR RUNNING  Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Angkas operator George Royeca on Friday try out a motorcycle with a barrier set up by the ride-hailing platform, which will provide free rides to medical front-liners in Metro Manila while the capital is on lockdown. Looking on is Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar (left), commander of the Joint Task Force COVID-19 Shield. -NINO JESUS ORBETA     Regions DOH: Bicol cases may double by January The Department of Health warned that the number of coronavirus cases in Bicol could double by January unless local authorities impose stricter screening guidelines for returning residents. From only eight confirmed cases in March, the region now has 551, mostly returnees from Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon who arrived under the “Hatid Probinsiya” program.  –STORY BY REY ANTHONY OSTRIA AND MAR ARGUELLES Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/Regions   World Trump ups purge of ‘untrusted’ apps WASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump has issued orders banning transactions with the Chinese owners of WeChat and TikTok, which his administration has tagged as “significant threats” amid an intensified purge of “untrusted” apps from American digital networks. China said the United States would bear the consequences of its actions, accusing Washington of oppressing non-American businesses. —STORY BY REUTERS Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/World   Lifestyle ‘After the pandemic, go discover your seas’ There are more ways to reenter the world after the pandemic than just going back to a consumerist lifestyle. Read full story: lifestyle.inquirer.net/after-the-pandemic-go-discover-your-seas   Lifestyle Set up hygiene stations for guests We’ve done a good job keeping our homes clean and virus-free. But what if a visitor, unexpected or otherwise, decides to drop by? Read full story: lifestyle.inquirer.net/set-up-hygiene-stations-for-guests/   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19 and the enhanced community quarantine. Subscribe       Banner story DOJ joins probes of PhilHealth mess By Julie M. Aurelio President Duterte was so “exasperated” over allegations of corruption in Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) that he ordered another investigation of the state insurer to be led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), his spokesperson said on Friday. Harry Roque said the President’s move proved his “zero-tolerance policy” on corruption and Mr. Duterte’s concern to “find out the truth” about the allegations of irregularities in PhilHealth. In a memorandum, the President directed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to organize a task force to probe the corruption allegations, including an audit of PhilHealth’s finances and lifestyle checks on its officials and employees. “The President seems very exasperated. Congress has probed PhilHealth so many times but nothing has happened. So he gave the power not only to investigate and try, but to impose preventive suspension on those being probed,” Roque said. “This is not an ordinary investigation,” he added. “So to the crocodiles at PhilHealth, your days are over. Good-bye!” Report after 30 days There are other ongoing investigations of PhilHealth, which were triggered by the resignation of Thorrsson Montes Keith, an antifraud legal officer of the government corporation two weeks ago. Keith cited “widespread corruption” in the state insurance company as one of his reasons for quitting and later said up to P15 billion of its funds had been pocketed by corrupt officials. Separate probes had been opened by the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC). Roque also earlier said Mr. Duterte had “authorized” Undersecretary Jose Melchor Quitain, head of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, to conduct an investigation. The President’s directive required the task force to submit its findings and recommendations, including “proposed legal actions against officials and employees found to be responsible for acts of corruption or anomalies in PhilHealth” within 30 days of the panel’s creation. The PACC had already submitted an initial report on its investigation. It recommended the filing of graft and corruption cases against 36 high-ranking and mid-level officials of the state health insurer. Guevarra will head the DOJ’s Task Force PhilHealth with members from the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit (COA), Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President, DOJ spokesperson Undersecretary Markk Perete said in a statement. Perete said the National Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, among other agencies, were being tapped to support the panel. Available assistance In his memorandum, the President authorized the DOJ to require other government agencies and instrumentalities to join as members of the panel or to assist it. The panel may also seek the assistance of constitutional commissions and other independent government bodies, and invite them to become members of the panel. The task force could also speed up ongoing investigations and special audits, recommend necessary personnel movements at PhilHealth, and examine the corporation’s existing information technology (IT) system, conduct lifestyle checks on key PhilHealth personnel, examine their financial transactions and file administrative and antigraft cases. The task force will closely collaborate with other agencies such as the PACC, Perete added. ‘More teeth’ Guevarra said the DOJ would coordinate its parallel investigation with the Ombudsman’s office, the body authorized by the Constitution to initiate, prosecute and file corruption cases against government officials in the Sandiganbayan. Several senators on Friday welcomed the President’s move. “As I have said, the President will not stop in fighting corruption,” said Sen. Bong Go. “With his order, I expect the task force … to do everything to end PhilHealth’s problem (regarding the) … ‘deeply rooted and systemic corruption.’” It was Go, the Senate health committee chair and Mr. Duterte’s former longtime aide, who first proposed the creation of the task force. “With more teeth, we expect this task force to discharge its key mandates without fear or favor and with greater haste,” Go said. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Sonny Angara also agreed with the President’s action, but pointed out that the Ombudsman and the COA were both independent constitutional bodies. “The constitutional commissions cannot be members of the panel constituted by the DOJ,” Drilon said in a text message to reporters. “The Constitution provides that these commissions shall be independent offices. The powers of these offices cannot be limited by their membership in the panel,” the former justice secretary said. Embedded ‘syndicate ‘ Senate President Vicente Sotto III also backed the creation of the task force, which he said should look into PhilHealth’s transactions since 2013 when it was created by law. Asked if the task force’s investigation would affect the Senate’s own probe, Sotto replied: “Not at all. Our investigation is in aid of legislation. I’m looking at amending the PhilHealth law.” Keith had told the senators that about P15 billion in PhilHealth funds had been pocketed or stolen by a “syndicate” operating in the state company. PhilHealth President and retired military general Ricardo Morales initially dismissed the allegations, but eventually admitted that irregularities continue to mar the state health insurer. Morales was appointed by Mr. Duterte last year after then PhilHealth President Roy Ferrer stepped down following the Inquirer’s investigative report on massive fraud in PhilHealth that led to losses of up to P154 billion. No official has been convicted of graft and corruption over those scams. Asked if the President had spoken with Morales over the corruption allegations, Roque said that was no longer necessary. “That’s already moot and academic. The President is more concerned with finding out the truth. And since what he did is a legal remedy, there’s no more reason for him to talk to Morales,” he said. Roque said the President’s directive was proof that Mr. Duterte was listening to the complaints of the people and acted on them. —WITH REPORTS FROM JEROME ANING AND MARLON RAMOS Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Editorial Bloodlust As if Filipinos were not afraid enough of dying from COVID-19, a few days ago a factotum of the Quezon City government threatened those who would violate guidelines of the modified enhanced community quarantine that they would be subjected to "shoot-to-kill" orders. As expected, the threat aired by Task Force Disiplina official Rannie Ludovica ("Mula bukas shoot to kill na ang lalabag sa MECQ") was met with a tsunami of anger, dismay and disdain. But Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte was apparently in a forgiving mood; she issued a statement saying that while she found Ludovica’s post "appalling" and "unacceptable," she could accept it enough to excuse her official’s crass threat as a mere "misstep," and that, after Ludovica apologized to her and took down his post, she would give the official a "second chance." Why are folks getting all hot under the collar in the wake of the factotum’s arrogant threat? Because, quite apart from the cloud of dread Filipinos live under during this pandemic, it has also been a season of violence and impunity in our midst. In the last few weeks alone, Manila chief inquest prosecutor Jovencio Senados was ambushed in his car while on his to work; National Center for Mental Health chief Roland Cortez and his driver were gunned down; and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga was shot to death. And now the Duterte administration and allies in Congress are pushing for the revival of the death penalty. The thousands of summary killings in the course of the war on drugs are still not enough, it seems, to satisfy the bloodlust of those in power Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net   Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe