Malacañang on Monday said lengthy verification processes in government agencies had caused the government’s debt to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) balloon anew to almost P800 million.
PRC Chairman Sen. Richard Gordon earlier warned that the humanitarian agency could suspend its free testing services anew as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) debt continued to increase.
In a media briefing, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said PhilHealth had a track record of paying its dues.
“Going by the track record of PhilHealth nagkakautang, nagbabayad naman po; at ang Presidente na mismo ang nagsalita, he vouches na lahat po ng pagkakautang ng PhilHealth pagdating sa PCR test will be paidm” Roque affirmed.
“Mayroon naman po kasing proseso na sinusunod, hindi naman po parang pribadong organisasyon ang PhilHealth, mayroong mga verifications, mayroong mga (Commission on Audit) rules and regulations na dapat sundin dahil gobyerno pa rin po ang PhilHealth,” he added.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Gordon said the government should pay PRC P500 million “right away” and the remainder of the P762.8 million debt immediately after.
The PRC suspended its free testing services in October over an almost billion-peso debt incurred by PhilHealth.
The PRC charges PhilHealth P3,500 for every test it administers. It has administered about 1.6 million tests nationwide. John Ezekiel J. Hirro