in News & Culture, Politics, Social Media

PhilHealth shows where the missing P15 billion went, Pinoys are still not buying it!

Filipinos were not satisfied with the state health insurer that claimed they never lost the money from the biggest scam the agency has faced.

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Netizens were not impressed after the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) released an infographic detailing where the P15 billion of their hard-earned contributions went.

In a statement issued over the agency’s social media accounts on Monday, March 8, PhilHealth addressed all concerns about where the money from the P15 billion PhilHealth mafia scandal went.

According to their statement, P14.21 billion or 95% of the funds, went to 711 hospitals in the country; to supposedly pay for COVID-19 testing and treatment.

They also included a link to the latest updates to their Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) liquidation update, which was last updated on February 26, 2021.

Netizens, however, poked fun at the infographic, coming up with their interpretations of the supposed liquidation tracker.

Some pointed out how “magical” the infographic was, with one saying it was “magic that Harry Potter wants to learn”.

https://twitter.com/correen_co/status/1369283707849252864

Fact Check PH, an initiative founded by alternative media outlet Assortedge, said Filipinos should wait for news from the Commission on Audit instead of readily believing PhilHealth’s tracking.

A lawyer and supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte appeared not convinced with PhilHealth’s mere “liquidation.”

Agatha from Marvel’s hit series WandaVision had her a way of describing what PhilHealth did

https://twitter.com/altabscbn/status/1368893718355468288

Even one of Duterte’s cabinet secretaries is not convinced, calling out state insurer officials for being corrupt at the end of February.

One netizen, who claimed to be working for PhilHealth, defended PhilHealth from ‘bad publicity’ brought about by the pandemic.

A scandal born from crisis.

To date, it is hard to find someone who wholeheartedly believes that PhilHealth funds were not misappropriated, especially after what happened during the Senate hearings on the matter.

PhilHealth’s trouble started when its former anti-fraud officer resigned to reveal how the state insurer was controlled by a “mafia” of officials.

At its head was the country’s health secretary, Francisco Duque III, whom he called as the leader or the don of the PhilHealth mafia.

He would also drop the P15-billion-peso figure in misappropriated funds, pushing the Senate to conduct an investigation.

Some of the issues raised during the Senate hearings included PhilHealth’s IRM. It is said to favor privately-owned hospitals over those ran by the state.

A dialysis hospital, in particular, had it easy with the state insurer, which received funds from the IRM that was allocated only for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

The NBI has since released its findings on the matter, pinning several high-ranking PhilHealth officials in its case.

Other issues raised were the overpriced IT equipment, which appeared in documents presented during the Senate hearings.

Former PhilHealth CEO Ricardo Morales was in the hot seat not just for being a part of the supposed ‘mafia’, but also for promoting PhilHealth officials with pending graft cases.

Commission on Auditliquidationnasaan ang 15BPhilHealth MafiaPhilHealth scandalRicardo Morales

Written by Andronico Del Rosario

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