The Wolf of Wall Street Philhealth Edition

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair Richard Gordon showed a video wherein PhilHealth Regional Vice President for Region 4-B Paolo Johann Perez's birthday celebration, where a scantily dressed dancer performed while surrounded by his colleagues, was exposed during a Senate hearing. The woman came out of a box and danced in his office as a birthday present.

Perez is among 8 PhilHealth officials tagged as members of an alleged mafia in the Senate panel report.

That's what you called "multitasking". Nag-eenjoy habang ngtatrabaho.

Mula noon hanggang ngayon problema ng mga nasa gobyerno ang pagnanakaw. Basta naupo sa pwesto tiyak may magiging issue kundi corruption e conflict of interest naman ang ginagawa, pero pinakamatindi ito!

Asan na ang mga katagang not even a whiff of corruption sa aking termino. "Papatayin ko talaga kayo". Sige nga. Sample nga.

Trash. Nagpapakahirap mga tao, ang daming may COVID tapos ganyan kayo? Nakakaawa din naman yung babae for sure just for money din yan. Bayad yan. Corruption and sexual objectification in one scenario.

Grabe! Ang lupit ninyo. Pinayagan ninyo talagang mag-perform in front of your office staff. Malamang ito wala pa din mangyayari kasi hindi naman siya ang nag hire ng agogo dancer.

Madami pa napromote ni Morales na mga kauri nyang kawatan. Absuelto iyan panigurado. Malakas ang kapit sa itaas.

Gordon wants removal of all PhilHealth regional VPs, believes they are the 'mafia'

He said several PhilHealth VPs have been committing irregularities but still remain in office, with some occupying their posts for 22 years already.

He also said PhilHealth regional officials have been "abusing" cataract case rates since 2009, with claims amounting to P17.35 billion in a decade.

PhilHealth allegedly disbursed P68.65 billion for 4.76 million pneumonia patients from 2014 to 2020, but DOH data show there were only 2.44 million cases of pneumonia in the country from 2015 to 2020.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommends removal of all PhilHealth regional directors, abolition of some positions in PhilHealth, says insurance firm needs to be reorganized through legislation.

They also recommend "regular lifestyle checks" for PhilHealth officials, "including their relatives up to the 4th degree of consanguinity / affinity."

They want PhilHealth's "information technology systems, including the procurement of hardware, software, security, network, and related technologies, must be contracted out."

They urge the Ombudsman to conduct investigations, file plunder charges vs some officials, including former DOH Sec. now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, PhilHealth regional vice presidents.

Gordon on alleged inaction vs erring PhilHealth officials: "The Senate makes laws... Bakit hindi ginagawa ng executive yan? Bakit hindi ginagawa ng DOJ? Bakit ang Ombudsman nanonood lang?"

"I'm very confident as a lawyer that we can prosecute these people [in PhilHealth]. 'Pag nakalusot pa yan, bulok na talaga ang sistema natin."

"Hindi lang sila dapat matanggal. They have to be prosecuted. We have to make the people believe that there is justice in this country... We should know there are people who will stand up if this is wrong."

"Corruption has been allowed to take over the agency because of poor leadership... There is no vision, no continuity and no punishment for the wicked."

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee wants criminal charges filed vs former Budget chief Butch Abad, former Heath Sec. Janette Garin over alleged irregularities in PhilHealth during the Aquino administration.

The problem embedded in Philhealth is a case of corruption & incompetency. The board appointed unqualified senior officers to be their bagmen, people who came from the ranks and knows the monkey business down to the bottom.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has been in the board for a very long time. He was accused of being the "godfather" of an alleged “mafia” in  PhilHealth which is under probe for corruption, told senators that he will do some soul searching if his best was not enough.

Many hospitals, many in the provinces, get as much as 5x more than what they should reimburse from Philhealth.

That is how the mafia works. Philhealth officials, particularly the regional directors and the hospital cohorts, have a special place in hell as these funds equate to lives.

That's why there's no room for promotion. Directors stay in their posts to make sure that their scheme continues to generate money no matter who sits as president. GMA admin started this. Duque was DOH Sec then too, right?

So this means it's nothing new. It's been going on for a long time.

Corruption in PhilHealth to take advantage of a pandemic is worse than the deadly coronavirus itself because of its evil intent and purpose... Soul searching is only for people who have souls.

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