President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered investigation into alleged anomalies hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Malacañang said Friday.
“Pinakinggan po ang lahat at ang naging conclusion ay isang maigting na imbestigasyon ang gagawin,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview with GMA-7’s Unang Hirit.
This came following reports that three officials of the state insurer have resigned from their respective posts due to the supposed widespread corruption within the agency.
A heated argument during the PhilHealth’s executive committee meeting purportedly ensued due to the discovery of alleged corruption within the state-run firm. This prompted the three officials to tender their resignations, reports said.
In a statement on Friday, PhilHealth confirmed that head executive assistant Etrobal Laborte resigned in mid-July “to go back to taking his PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).”
PhilHealth, meanwhile, said it has yet to officially receive the resignation letter of Thorsson Montes Keith, anti-legal fraud officer of the agency.
It added that corporate legal counsel Roberto Labe Jr. “vehemently denied” reports about his supposed resignation.
Roque confirmed he had received a copy of Keith’s resignation letter, which cites the “widespread corruption in PhilHealth” as among the PhilHealth official’s reasons to quit his post.
The presidential spokesperson suspects that some PhilHealth’s top officials are involved in corrupt activities.
“Ang aking conclusion diyan talaga, may sindikato talaga at ito po iyong pinakamatataas na career executives diyan sa PhilHealth. Hindi naman po lahat, hindi natin nilalahat,” Roque said.
