Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) executives have agreed to sign the bank secrecy waiver that would allow the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to look into their bank accounts amid alleged widespread corruption within the agency.
During the continuation of the House of Representatives’ probe into the issues hounding PhilHealth on Wednesday, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. asked PhilHealth officials to give AMLC authority to inquire into their bank accounts.
“If they are innocent and they are not hiding anything — are they willing to sign a statement that the AMLC can verify their bank deposits or bank transactions? Kung wala po silang ginagawang anomaliya, walang ninakaw sa gobyerno, are they willing with no objection?”
All PhilHealth officials who attended the hearing answered in the affirmative.
Among them are Senior Vice Presidents Renato Limsiaco Jr., Dennis Mas and Nerissa Santiago.
Vice Presidents Oscar Abadu Jr., Shirley Domingo and Gilda Diaz and Corporate Secretary Jonathan Mangoang, among others, also said they are willing to sign the waiver.
PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales was not able to answer since he left the meeting earlier as he was not feeling well.
House Committee on Public Accounts Chairman Michael Defensor said the committee will write a letter to all high ranking officials of PhilHealth, including Morales, the agency’s regional directors and board members requesting that they sign a bank secrecy waiver.
At a Senate hearing, PhilHealth board member Alejandro Cabading tagged Limsiaco, Mas and Mangoang as among the members of the alleged mafia at the agency.
Resigned anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith tagged the whole executive committee as mafia and Morales as the alleged coddler of the syndicate.