The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) clarified anew that the fake receipt incidents that took place in 2015 was perpetrated by the unscrupulous liaison officers of recruitment agencies to their overseas-bound recruits, making them believe that their PhilHealth contributions have been properly remitted to the state Agency. It maintained that the stolen contributions went to the pockets of involved liaison officers and not to anyone in PhilHealth.
The Agency lamented the resurrection of the issue in a recent hearing in the Lower House, saying that the matter was properly addressed since it was first reported in late 2015. It coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation in the same year for a more thorough investigation and for the necessary legal actions. To date, 16 cases against 16 recruitment agencies including 11 liaison officers have been endorsed to the NBI for further investigation. PhilHealth also worked with the concerned recruitment agencies that led to the filing of estafa (through falsification) case and the irrevocable resignation in another case of the involved liaison officers. Also, a senior officer was cleared of allegations pertaining to falsification of receipts. The complaint was dismissed by the PhilHealth Integrity Monitoring Committee due to lack of legal basis.
PhilHealth said it has verified and accounted for a total of P1.2 million covering 531 overseas-bound member contributions issued with falsified receipts, contrary to claims that some P17.4 million were lost due to the said scam. The alleged losses of P17.4 million are overly bloated since it includes unremitted premiums which are not, in any way, attributable to fake receipts.
As of August 2020, a total of P535,200 has been recovered from the concerned recruitment agencies. The balance is in various stages of recovery and is being vigorously pursued by the state agency.
PhilHealth urges the public particularly the OFWs to immediately report any incident of suspected issuance of fake PhilHealth receipts to the nearest regional or local health insurance office, or to its Action Center at (02) 8441 7442.
Reference: Rey T. Baleña, Senior Manager,
Corporate Communication Department
Mobile No: 09328749417
