President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to go after officials involved in alleged corruption schemes in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“Itong PhilHealth, sabi ko yayariin ko kayo. Maniwala kayo,” he said during a public address. “Nakalusot kayo sa ibang presidente, pero ngayon sa’kin sadsad talaga kayo.”
PhilHealth is undergoing investigations by multiple government bodies due to allegations raised by its resigned anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Keith.
According to Keith, about P15 billion was pocketed by PhilHealth officials. This led to Duterte ordering probes into the state insurance firm and the creation of a task force to look into PhilHealth’s finances and conduct lifestyle checks on its employees.
The state insurer’s president, Ricardo Morales, was appointed by Duterte in June 2019.
Duterte encouraged those not involved in the alleged fraudulent schemes to continue working.
“‘Yung mga inosente naman, tahimik lang kayo at continue working,” he said.
After his election as 16th president of the Philippines, Duterte said not even “a whiff” of corruption would be tolerated under his term. John Ezekiel J. Hirro
Read: ‘Whiff or whisper’: Did Duterte keep his promise to fire officials for corruption?