Philippines: Duterte approves criminal charges against PhilHealth officials, spares health secretary Duque
- The charges were recommended after investigations into irregularities at the state agency paying for medical care and Covid-19 testing, which Duque chairs
- He has also been criticised for his handling of the pandemic, with the Philippines reporting the most coronavirus-related deaths in Southeast Asia
The Senate had previously investigated irregularities at PhilHealth – the state agency paying for medical care and Covid-19 testing, which Duque chairs – that included improper disbursal of funds earmarked for the pandemic. On September 1, 20 senators urged Duterte to fire Duque and eight other top officials from the agency, including president and chief executive Ricardo Morales, for criminal negligence.
Duterte responded by forming a task force to conduct a parallel probe, which on Monday recommended the filing of criminal charges against the eight PhilHealth officials, but not Duque. The task force instead recommended that the president “strongly admonish and remind the chairman [Duque] and members of the board of the grave consequence of their action and inaction”.
During an August 18 Senate hearing, Duque had admitted that a cash advance from PhilHealth to a private dialysis clinic was illegal, as the clinic had no Covid-19 patients.
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At the time, he argued that he was not liable because as a “non-voting chair”, he did not sign the board resolution that advanced 14 billion pesos (US$288 million) of PhilHealth funds through the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) that saw even hospitals and clinics with no Covid-19 patients get cash advances, while other medical centres treating patients with the disease missed out.
Duterte’s task force on Monday said that while Duque and the rest of the board “exhibited negligence” in their “careless approval” of overpriced IT equipment and the money that was disbursed through the IRM, there were mitigating factors, such as PhilHealth officials lying to the board and concealing vital documents.