Ang tama ay IPAGLABAN. Ang mali ay LABANAN.
Nakakapangamba kung mawalan na tuluyan ng gana ang ordinaryong Pilipino na mag-contribute sa PhilHealth dahil sa katiwaliang bumabalot dito, ayon kay Sen. Ping Lacson sa panayam sa DZAR.
QUOTES and NOTES:
Continue reading “#PINGterview: Ordinaryong Pilipino, Baka Mawalan ng Gana Magbayad sa PhilHealth?”
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the government in a very precarious situation as in a tightrope-like balancing act between health and economic issues, which presents a no win-all situation.
That is why it is revolting to discover so much unabated corruption in PhilHealth involving billions that could have been put into good use in adequately addressing at least the issue of health.
Having said that, I would like to believe, as often expressed by the country’s economic managers, that we continue to benefit from our strong economic fundamentals which can pull us through this crisis, until such time that a vaccine that has guaranteed efficacy is finally developed to address the pandemic.
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Recent developments have given us a sneak peek into the extent of corruption at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I thus pose this challenge to the corrupt elements in PhilHealth: Declare a moratorium on corruption, at least during the pandemic. Who knows, they might actually learn that it feels good not to be corrupt, and thus develop an aversion to corruption.
Having said that, I also encourage those in PhilHealth who fight corruption in their own little way – the officials and rank-and-file who continue to provide information and documents – not to tire of blowing the whistle on corruption, even if we may not immediately see the results of their acts.
A corruption-free – and more importantly, corruption-averse – PhilHealth will not only ensure much-needed health benefits for all Filipinos in the long run. In the immediate term, it will ease the concerns of lawmakers, myself included, that the budget we pass for PhilHealth to do its job will not be lost to greed.
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QUOTES from INTERVIEWS on ANC and CNN Philippines
Continue reading “Moratorium on Corruption: A Challenge to PhilHealth”
In an interview with Senate media, Sen. Lacson answered questions on:
* PhilHealth officials evasive answers at Senate hearing
* Security concerns of prospective witnesses
* Gen. Morales, misled o co-opted?
QUOTES and NOTES:
Continue reading “#PINGterview: Security Concerns for PhilHealth Mess ‘Witnesses’”
Sen. Lacson’s Opening Statement at the Senate Committee of the Whole Hearing on Corruption at PhilHealth:
SP Sotto and I filed SRN 475, later co-authored by almost all the members of this present Senate, after a number of PhilHealth officials, both incumbent or recently resigned, sought our intervention to help them “drain the swamp,” as American politicians would love to say when they see the need to root out corruption.
And for good reason. PhilHealth is a murky, stinking swamp that many of its good and well-meaning people from the officials to their rank-and-file employees want drained, not just of some corrupt but well-entrenched officials who do not seem to run out of malevolent schemes to enrich themselves, but of a deeply rooted, mafia-like syndicate that controls the resources of the corporation, and habitually manipulate its financial records, that even the COA seems helpless in the conduct of their regular audit.
If we look closely enough, the story only revolves around the same cast of characters – a circle of high-ranking officials who manage to hog their seats despite the change of leadership and detailed anomalies that we already unearthed in the past.