ILOILO City – No P10.6-billion Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) funds for senior citizens were diverted to the Department of Health (DOH) in 2015, said former Health secretary Janette Garin.
“It’s a very big lie,” she told Iloilo journalists.
PhilHealth filed a graft complaint against Garin and former PhilHealth president Alexander Padilla in connection with the alleged fund diversion for the construction of rural health clinics.
The reallocation was “not sanctioned or approved” by its board of directors, according to PhilHealth.
Garin, however, said the fund was non-existent in the first place so the alleged diversion could not have happened.
No unprogrammed funds were released “because this can only be released if there is excess tax collection,” she said.
The National Treasury had not issued a certification attesting that there was excess tax collection, stressed Garin.
The former Health secretary believed the allegation against her aimed to “cover-up the real mess and mismanagement” at PhilHealth.
According to Garin, PhilHealth’s losses reached P9.8 billion during the term of her successor, then Health secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial, and PhilHealth chief Dr. Celestina Ma. Jude P. De la Serna.
When she served as chairman of the board of the state insurer, Garin said she discovered abuses by PhilHealth officials and thus introduced reforms.
Had Ubial continued the reforms, PhilHealth would not have incurred huge losses, said Garin.
One of the irregularities she discovered, according to Garin, was the bloating of PhilHealth’s income.
PhilHealth’s finance department did not declare the actual income of the agency, said Garin.
She also discovered that PhilHealth had huge expenditures and that the refunds of certain hospitals were rushed, said Garin.
The former Health secretary said, “My lawyer is looking into possibility of filing a case against Dr. De la Serna.”
Garin denied neglecting senior citizens when she was the DOH secretary. She said the government allocated huge funds for the senior citizens’ PhilHealth premiums – P35.3 billion in 2014, P37.06 billion in 2015, and P43.84 billion in 2016./PN
