MASSIVE CORRUPTION UNDER DUTERTE
P15 BILLION
WENT TO PHILHEALTH ‘SYNDICATE’ – WHISTLEBLOWER
By: Marlon
Ramos - Reporter / @MRamosINQ
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:44 AM August 05, 2020
MANILA,
Philippines — About P15 billion of the funds of Philippine Health Insurance
Corp. (PhilHealth) fattened the wallets of a “syndicate’’ in the state-run
health insurer in 2019 alone, according to a former antifraud officer of the
corporation, who called it the “crime of the year.”
Lawyer
Thorrsson Montes Keith told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that all members of
PhilHealth’s executive committee composed the “mafia,” which had been allegedly
defrauding the corporation for the past several years.
“My
primary job as antifraud legal officer of PhilHealth is to spy on corrupt
personnel … What I have discovered in PhilHealth may be called ‘crime of the
year,’” said Keith, who quit his post on July 23.
“I
believe, based on my investigation, that the (public) money that had been
wasted or stolen was more or less P15 billion,” he said, likening the rampant
questionable transactions in PhilHealth to a pandemic.
PHILHEALTH’S
GHOST BENEFICIARIES
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:02 AM August 12, 2020
Stupid,
stupid, stupid! That’s all anyone with some brain in his head can say. The
news, “Are they dead or alive? 5K
members aged 130 are in PhilHealth database” (8/4/20) — and that “nobody knows
if they are dead or still alive” because there is nothing in PhilHealth’s
database to show if they died already and so they continue to enjoy the
benefits — got us falling off the edge of our seat so early in the morning.
Counting
out biblical figures who lived hundreds of years (Methuselah, 969 years; Jared,
962; Noah, 950; Adam, 930; et al.), who lives that long (130 years!) nowadays?
Ghost beneficiaries, anyone? No wonder
billions of pesos are lost, or worse, end up in the pockets of scalawags!
There were
5,000 RED FLAGS fluttering like crazy and no one in PhilHealth wondered about
them? PhilHealth has branches all over the archipelago. Has it ever occurred to
PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales to get his people off their butts and do
some legwork (assuming PhilHealth has their addresses?) to check if those
“undead” members are really still alive and kicking? They would most certainly
have found, to their “disbelief,” that all of them had long been in graves
within their own barangay, city, or province.
That would
have been a lot less expensive, as those trips are just part of their day’s
work. Instead, Morales is asking Congress to shell out more billions in cash
infusion so he can have PhilHealth’s database show more “intelligence” —
apparently because he and his people no longer have any.
Stephen L.
Monsanto
Follow the
leader...
Public domain image
ReplyDeleteImage link:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/no-corruption-stop-corruption-4650589/
Gonzalinho
PHILHEALTH CORRUPTION VIOLATES THE RIGHT TO HEALTH AND LIFE
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 04:01 AM September 01, 2020
Corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is not only colossal thievery, robbing Filipino workers and taxpayers of their contributions to the fund. It also violates the right of Filipinos to universal health care, bleeding billions of pesos away from state resources intended for this purpose. In a pandemic that has caused thousands of deaths in our country, it violates the right to life.
PhilHealth corruption has taken many forms: diverted premium payments of up to P114 million in 2012, unnecessary or sham cataract removals worth P2 billion in 2014, fraudulent dialysis claims, the “upcasing” of mild respiratory infections to pneumonia, membership rosters with 500,000 people aged 100 to 121, and recently, a bid to procure overpriced and obsolete information technology equipment.
Sadly, the pandemic that is devastating our people and our economy has opened more opportunities for corruption: inordinately expensive COVID-19 test kits; an interim reimbursement mechanism that expedites COVID-19-related advances to hospitals in regions with low infection rates, while hospitals in high infection areas, including government facilities, still await reimbursement.Yet even as the Duterte administration has coddled its appointee, PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales — requesting him to resign for the sake of his health—its supporters have viciously used the issue of corruption in PhilHealth against those it perceives as its enemies.
Its troll army has launched a campaign smearing former PhilHealth board member Sen. Risa Hontiveros, while its legislative lackeys threaten to file cases against officials of the previous administration, even though none of these have been named by whistle-blowers as parties to the corruption. The Catholic Church, which has repeatedly admonished the administration against its excesses, has not been spared the mud of obfuscation, notably smeared by a congressman who represents not only the administration’s interests but also the interests of the anti-Catholic Iglesia ni Cristo.
We, the members of Gomburza, motivated by the Christian commitment to human dignity and good governance, support the PhilHealth employees who have demanded the investigation and prosecution of corruption, and thank them for their integrity. While we are encouraged by the suspension of the PhilHealth officials named as complicit, we call for (1) a nonpartisan investigation of the allegations against those implicated in the Senate hearings; (2) commensurate punishment for those found guilty; (3) replacement of the guilty by appointees of proven competence and integrity in the field of health insurance; (4) periodic reviews of PhilHealth’s operations by independent agencies seasoned in insurance fraud detection; (5) timely reimbursement of claims by hospitals in high infection areas; and (6) an end to the deceptive manipulation of the PhilHealth scandal to discredit the administration’s critics.
We call upon our citizens to distinguish politically motivated from evidence-backed allegations, and to demand that their legislative representatives and relevant officials defend their right to universal health care by taking swift and appropriate action.
Primis Player Placeholder
Finally, we call on those involved in this corruption: “Do not depend on dishonest wealth, for it will not benefit you in the day of calamity” (Sirach 5:8). Repent and make reparation, restoring to Filipinos their right to universal health care, and to life.
(Sgd.) MEMBERS OF GOMBURZA: SISTER TERESITA ALO, SFIC; FR. ROBERTO REYES; FR. JOSELITO SARABIA, CM; FR. FLAVIE L. VILLANUEVA, SVD; LOT LUMAWIG ALLANIGUE; TERESITA S. CASTILLO; LUCIA LUCAS CHAVEZ; PERCIVAL CHAVEZ; ELEANOR R. DIONISIO; VERONICA ESTER MENDOZA; ANGELO SILVA
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/133193/philhealth-corruption-violates-the-right-to-health-and-life#ixzz6qNqdKJ3I
Gonzalinho
Pope’s Monthly Prayer Intentions
ReplyDeleteApostleship of Prayer
April 2021
Fundamental rights
We pray for those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis.
Link: http://popesprayerusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/INTENZIONI-DEL-PAPA-2021-ENG-DEF.pdf
Gonzalinho
WHERE IS TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT METRICS?
ReplyDeleteBy: Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:06 AM September 12, 2020
As I reported to you earlier, Reader, the Philippine Development Plan 2017-22, whose priorities admittedly (by President Duterte himself in its foreword) were guided by his 0+10 point Socio-Economic Agenda, has an accompanying Results Matrix.
…You would be impressed if you read the PDP, Reader. It has overall goals and targets, and then it has 16 sectors/chapters, classified under three “Pillars”—Malasakit, Pagbabago, and Patuloy na Pagunlad—together with an enabling and supportive economic environment and built upon strong foundations for sustainable development.
Under enhancing the social fabric (“Malasakit”), there is governance, administration of justice, and Philippine culture and values. Under inequality-reducing transformation (“Pagbabago”) are included agriculture, industry and services, human capital development, social protection, and shelter/housing. Under increasing growth potential (“Patuloy na Pagunlad”) are the demographic dividend and science, technology, and innovation. All with separate chapters.
That’s not all: Under an enabling and supportive economic environment are sound macroeconomic policy and national competitiveness. And under foundations for sustainable development are included a just and lasting peace, security, public order and safety, infrastructure development, and environment.
…All of them, except for two chapters, have separate targets contained in the Results Matrix that accompanies the Plan.
…the two sectors which have no published targets are Ch. 17, “A Just and Lasting Peace,” and Ch. 18, “Ensuring Security, Public Order, and Safety.” The reason given for this lapse is that these involve issues of national security (!), so presumably only the military, the Philippine National Police, and President Duterte can be in the loop. I kid you not, Reader. That’s the reason given. And yet, these two chapters, per the PDP, “constitute the bedrock of the 0+10 Socioeconomic Agenda of the administration.”
Which naturally leads to the next question: If it is the bedrock, and if we don’t know how strong that bedrock is, how can the administration claim any success at all, without any metric to measure it against? Where is transparency?
…And the PNP now has a proposed budget of P196 billion. How can we be sure its performance on criminality and drugs is improved if it refuses to share with us the measures of its success or failure, on the grounds of national security? Are we throwing good money after bad?
solita_monsod@yahoo.com
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/133509/where-is-transparency-in-govt-metrics#ixzz6tgBOPbb3
That’s the whole purpose of not specifying either the budget or the performance metrics—to preclude transparency.
When there is no transparency, you can do whatever you want with humongous amounts of money without ever having to account for it.
Gonzalinho
SALN AND ‘BLACKMAIL’
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:35 AM October 02, 2020
Sen. Imee Marcos let loose a steaming mouthful on Saturday in support of Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ controversial position restricting access to the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of government officials.
“Totoo naman. Madalas nakikita natin, iniskandalo ka sa dyaryo tapos parang tine-terrorize na, wine-weaponize na itong SALN,” said the eldest daughter of deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a radio interview.
Of course, Marcos’ disdain for the SALN law and her profuse commiseration with Martires’ decision—deemed by many sectors as practically subverting the mandate of the Ombudsman’s office to promote honesty and accountability in government—has more than a touch of self-interest to it. The woman, after all, is one of the heirs to what Transparency International estimates is some $5 billion to $10 billion that the Marcos conjugal dictatorship had embezzled from Philippine coffers from 1972 to 1986 through shell corporations, real estate properties, and money in numerous offshore banks.
A simple check of the older Marcos’ SALN would readily show that his assets were ill-gotten, since the ousted President’s salary never rose above $13,500 a year, according to a May 2016 article by The Guardian. That judgment on the nature of the Marcoses’ unexplained wealth has been affirmed as well by rulings of the Supreme Court. Imee, according to a 2013 report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, was herself the beneficiary of the Sintra Trust fund in the British Virgin Islands, which she, however, did not declare in her SALN.
It is easy to understand why shady politicians consider the SALN a dreaded enemy, one that raises doubts about their integrity when the document shows a gross mismatch between their assets and legitimate income. But isn’t that precisely the intention of the law—to expose malfeasance and dishonesty with figures cited or omitted in the sworn document? Why fear it when one has nothing to hide?
The Marcos daughter parrots Martires’ beef against the SALN requirement—that it has been “weaponized” against politicians.
…But, really, the SALN law IS a weapon—against corruption and plunder and wrongdoing in public office. The reality of deceit and misconduct in government is such that a vast machinery of offices, agencies, and institutions emanating from the Constitution itself—the Office of the Ombudsman, the Sandiganbayan, the Commission on Audit, etc.—is in place, empowered by a raft of laws and mandates and huge budgets, to fight and contain the never-ending scourge. Upright politicians would see the SALN law and similar regulations demanding basic integrity in government as valuable tools, making their job of accounting for their conduct before the people much easier. Only those whose interests stand to be adversely exposed by the SALN would be deathly afraid of it.
To be continued
SALN AND ‘BLACKMAIL’
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:35 AM October 02, 2020
Continued
That much is clear from the rest of Marcos’ remarks, in which she complained that “Lahat ng mga public officials parating tinatakot sa ganyan… ’Yung problema naman talaga ’yung nagiging instrument ’yung blackmail naman. Ibang usapan kasi kapag ganun.”
Does the woman hear herself? One is vulnerable to blackmail only when he or she has something embarrassing that needs to be kept from public view.
…“Blackmailing” powerful public officials on their SALNs is a preposterous idea—what is there to shake down if the document is truthful and accurate? If, however, the politician draws up a spurious, fraudulent declaration that can result in scandal, then she has only herself to blame for engaging in unlawful conduct in the first place.
To repeat: The SALN, and the overall Constitutional direction toward transparency and accountability in governance at all times, will come off as a nuisance, a set of inconveniences to be disregarded on the flimsiest of grounds (the “vagueness” of longstanding law, for instance), only by those in the business of trying to hoodwink the people about their affairs while in office.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/134101/saln-and-blackmail#ixzz712hVYqlg
The rotten apple does not fall far from the rotten tree.
Gonzalinho