ON FAKE PHILHEALTH RECEIPTS ISSUED TO OFW MEMBERS




PhilHealth cries foul over and vehemently denounces the slanted report which came out today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the fake PhilHealth Official Receipts (PORs) issued by liaison officers of recruitment agencies to a number of OFW members supposedly for their premium contributions.

PhilHealth acted promptly on the issue in order to penalize those who are guilty in particular; and protect the National Health Insurance Fund in general.

            There were considerable efforts exerted by PhilHealth in response to this duplicity. Mr. Dennis S. Mas, then Regional Vice-President for NCR and now Senior Vice President for Management Services, spearheaded calls for investigation to uncover the modus. His endorsement proved crucial to the current undertakings of PhilHealth against these forged receipts. In November 2015, then PhilHealth President and CEO Alexander Padilla requested the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct an inquiry pertaining to the falsified PORs.

            The Corporation also would like to clarify that the issued fake receipts amounted only to P1.2 million, contrary to the report which stated at least P17.4 million. Moreover, PhilHealth maintained that no funds were lost over this modus.

Of late, a total of P208,800 have been collected already from the identified recruitment agencies where the spurious transactions emanated. PhilHealth is awaiting settlement from the other recruitment agencies; sent final demand letters; and endorsed some of the cases to the Legal Services Unit of the PhilHealth-NCR for appropriate action.

Finally, there was no evidence involving any of PhilHealth personnel to this fraudulent activity. The falsification was initiated by the unscrupulous liaison officers themselves who were said to connive with a certain personality at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency in order to commit fraud.

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