The inter-agency task force led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is investigating the alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), said it has an airtight case against the alleged erring officials of the state insurer.
In an online press briefing on Thursday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said they will be filing administrative and criminal cases against seven PhiHealth officials before the Ombudsman in the next 30 days.
“I think we have sufficient evidence for the Ombudsman consider there is probable cause [against the said officials]. But we will not preempt the Ombudsman,” Guevarra said.
On Monday, the task force finally submitted to President Rodrigo R. Duterte the result of its month-long probe on the alleged anomalies in PhilHealth.
The report included a recommendation, which was approved by the President, to file charges against seven PhilHealth officials for their involvement in the purported anomalous Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) and purchase of overpriced information and community technology (ICT) equipment by PhilHealth.
Among those facing charges are former PhilHealth CEO and President Ricardo Morales; Senior Vice President Jovita Aragona; Information and Technology and Management Department Acting Senior Manager Calixto Gabuya; Fund Management Sector Senior Vice President Renato Limsiaco; Senior Vice President Israel Pargas; Executive Vice President and concurrent OIC-President and CEO Arnel De Jesus; and division chief Bobby Crisostomo.
Guevarra, however, said they could still recommend the filing of cases to more government officials since they probe in PhilHealth is still ongoing.
He noted they will now be focusing on the legal department of PhilHealth, which was also revealed to be plagued with anomalies during the separate probes conducted by the Senate and House of Representatives on the state insurer.
“We just started with the ICT procurement and the IRM [cases] because those were the only ones were able to complete within the 30 days [of our probe],” Guevarra said.
“We actually already started with the legal sector [of PhilHealth], but we were not able complete it. We are targeting to complete it the next maybe one or two months,” he added.
The DOJ chief made the remark in response to PhilHealth legal head Jojo del Rosario’s celebratory post in his Facebook that he was not included among the PhilHealth officials to be charged.