Upon the order of President Rodrigo Roa Durterte, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra has formed Task Force PhilHealth. The inter-agency task force will investigate allegations of anomalies and corruption at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). Secretary Guevarra will head the task force which counts the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President as its members.
The National Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, among other agencies, are also being tapped to support Task Force PhilHealth in its work.
The task force will probe reported anomalous activities in the PhilHealth and its regional offices. Its work will include speeding up ongoing investigations and special audits, recommending necessary personnel movements at the PhilHealth, and examination of the corporation’s existing IT system. It will conduct lifestyle checks on key PhilHealth personnel and examine their financial transactions, and file administrative and anti-graft cases as may be warranted. It can also preventively suspend personnel as necessitated by its investigation.
The task force will discharge these functions in close collaboration with other relevant offices, such as the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.
Earlier today, President Duterte issued a Memorandum directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to organize a panel that will investigate various allegations of corruption hounding the PhilHealth. In his Memorandum, the President empowered the DOJ to, among others, “require other agencies and instrumentalities of the government” to participate in the panel’s work and to “seek the assistance of constitutional commissions and other independent government bodies.”
