Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Ombudsman suspends 8 PhilHealth officials. Inquirer Newsletter. October 29, 2020

CHINESE PRESENCE Chinese workers help build the China-funded Estrella-Pantaleon bridge project to connect Mandaluyong and Makati cities. Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan is seeking a Senate investigation into the presence of 4 million Chinese nationals in the country since 2017, saying it has national security implications amid fears of an “orchestrated soft invasion” by China. —RICHARD A. REYES

Regions

Boracay plea: Drop swab tests for guests

Tourism is slowly picking up in Boracay, with almost 2,000 visitors, many of them from Metro Manila, managing to enjoy its white sand beach and clear waters this month despite strict health and travel regulations. But business owners are asking the government to scrap the expensive swab test required for tourists, saying it has been discouraging people from taking a trip to the resort island. —STORY BY NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.

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World

Early voters exceed half of 2016 turnout

Political analysts consider the record number of American voters lining up to cast their votes as a sign of intense interest in the contest between Republican US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Democrats have a significant two-to-one advantage after heeding the call of mail balloting in the early weeks. Experts project a voter turnout of 150 million, the highest rate since 1908. —STORY BY REUTERS

News

Graft probe starts with ‘usual suspects’

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday said the Department of Justice-led investigation of graft across government agencies would start with the “usual suspects”: public works, internal revenue, customs, land registration, and state health insurer. He said the investigation would give priority to agencies at the national level, but would go down to the regional and local levels if necessary. —STORY BY TINA G. SANTOS

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Ombudsman suspends 8 PhilHealth officials

By Nikka G. Valenzuela

Ombudsman Samuel Martires suspended for six months without pay eight senior officials of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) who are facing administrative and criminal complaints in connection with the alleged irregular release of P2.7 billion from the insurer’s interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM).

The officials were identified as Arnel de Jesus, chief operating officer; Renato Limsiaco and Israel Francis Pargas, senior vice presidents; Gregorio Rulloda, vice president for National Capital Region (NCR); Lolita Tuliao, NCR central branch manager; and Imelda Trinidad de Vera-Pe, Gemma Sibucao and Lailani Padua, executives.

NBI charges

“After a thorough consideration of the records, this office finds sufficient cause to place respondents under preventive suspension…,” the Ombudsman’s seven-page order said.

Earlier, the National Bureau of Investigation filed charges of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service against the eight officials and former PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales. The charges stemmed from the release of IRM funds through cash advances to 139 health-care institutions (HCIs) in Metro Manila.

Morales resigned in August due to health reasons.

According to the bureau, the IRM funds appropriated for COVID-19 response were instead given to predetermined health-care institutions, including many that did not treat COVID-19 patients.

The disbursement of the cash advance also did not comply with procedures set by the Commission on Audit.

Official documents

The NBI had asked for the preventive suspension of the officials.

Under the Ombudsman Act of 1989 and its Rules and Procedure, the Ombudsman or his deputy can impose a preventive suspension of officials under investigation if the evidence of guilt is strong and their continued stay in office would influence the case filed against them.

“Respondents facilitated these anomalies by affixing their signatures on official documents causing the release of the questioned IRM funds. These documents include the document review and assessment request recommending the approval of fund requests of HCIs, memoranda of agreement with HCIs and disbursement vouchers, among other things,” Martires said.

He said that “since the respondents’ respective positions allow them to wield influence on possible witnesses and to access public records, their continued stay in office may not only prejudice the cases against them but allow them to commit further acts of malfeasance.”

Martires directed PhilHealth President and CEO Dante Gierran to implement the suspension order.

House panel’s findings

“This consolidated order is immediately executory and shall not be interrupted within the period prescribed notwithstanding any motion, appeal or petition that may be filed by respondents seeking relief from this consolidated order, unless otherwise ordered by this office or by any court of competent jurisdiction,” the Ombudsman said.

The suspension order came a day after a joint panel of the House of Representatives recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, PhilHealth chair, and other officials of the state insurer.

The 80-page report of the committees on public accounts and on good government and public accountability included findings on the IRM, the implementation of the all-case rate, PhilHealth’s operation of an unauthorized payment system, the disadvantageous settlement of cases, fraudulent claims, adverse audit reports and other alleged irregularities.

It will be submitted to the Department of Justice for further study.

The Senate committee of the whole earlier recommended the filing of graft and malversation cases against Duque, Morales and other senior executives for the release of IRM funds to health facilities that did not treat COVID-19 patients.

As chair of the PhilHealth board, Duque was held liable for the “flawed” mechanism of the IRM amid reports of preferential treatment for certain private HCIs.

The health chief decried the charges as an “injustice,” saying he was not a signatory to the resolution that paved way for the IRM in March as he was then occupied as chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the temporary body in charge of the government’s response to the pandemic.

Editorial

Humanitarian ‘limitation’?

Apparently stung by the public outrage at its perceived part in the egregious failure of the justice system that led to the death of baby River Nasino after she was separated from her detained mother, the Supreme Court is pushing back at the criticisms and insisting it did all it could. No less than Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta has seen fit to break his customary silence to defend the court's conduct: "Hindi naman kami nagpabaya (we weren't negligent). We tried to help her," he said at a recent online press conference. Peralta argues that the court faced "limitations": "Kung meron lang sanang power ang SC to go against the constitutional prohibition na hindi pwedeng mag-bail kung capital punishment ‘yan. Kung nilagay ‘yan na they can be released if the evidence of guilt is weak for humanitarian reason, agad-agad di na kailangan ng petition niyan. But may limitations eh..."

Is that rule absolute? Is the Supreme Court really that powerless when it comes to this "limitation"? Not in the case of Juan Ponce Enrile, who, it must be recalled, was granted bail in 2015 despite facing the nonbailable charge of plunder, on the basis of, as then Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin wrote, "his solid reputation in both his public and private lives, his long years of public service, and history's judgment of him being at stake..." But more than those supposed virtues, the court was able to summon, and specifically cite, humanitarian considerations in deciding to spring the 96-year-old former senator from jail—despite Enrile's camp not having even cited that basis in its petition. This was "special accommodation" plain and simple, declared Associate Justice Marvic Leonen in his searing dissent.

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