Officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) who have resigned amid investigations on alleged corruption would not be exempt from criminal liability should they be found guilty, Malacañang said Thursday.
“The law is very clear: If there is a criminal liability incurred when you are in office, it subsists; and public officers can be held liable for them whether or not they continue to be in office,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.
PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales earlier tendered his resignation due to his lymphoma and upon President Rodrigo Duterte’s advice.
PhilHealth senior vice president for legal sector Rodolfo del Rosario Jr. also left his post amid the ongoing probes.
The Department of Justice-led probe on PhilHealth had found irregularities in the state insurer’s information technology system, legal sector and financial management.
The state insurer has been under investigation since its anti-fraud officer, Thorrsson Keith, revealed corrupt schemes in the state health insurance firm, through which members of the PhilHealth “mafia” had allegedly pocketed about P15 billion.
Meanwhile, Roque said he was not keen on being appointed PhilHealth chief.
Roque authored the Universal Health Care Law signed by Duterte in 2019.
“I’m presidential spokesperson po, I’m busy with my job right now,” he said. John Ezekiel J. Hirro