PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales said whistle-blower former anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith is only accusing the agency’s officials of corruption because he did not get the promotion.
“Specifically about Attorney Thorsson, I always said he was vengeful because I refused to give him a position that I think he was not qualified,” Morales said.
He said Keith wanted to be the executive assistant. Estrobal “Bal” Laborte was vacating the position to pursue higher studies.
“Ang totoo niyan, he came to me kasi sabi niya maliit daw ang sweldo niya at aalis naman si Mr. Bal Laborte dahil mag-i-schooling, so tinanggihan ko siya dahil position of trust naman ‘yung executive assistant at hindi ko naman siya ganon kakilala,” PhilHealth CEO explained.
(The truth is he came to me because he said his salary was small and Mr. Bal Laborte was leaving for school. I rejected him because the executive assistant is a position of trust, and I don’t know him well.)
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“Right now, ngayon ho na umalis siya sa PhilHealth, meron hong apat na complaint sa kanya, sexual harassment, so he is not qualified for the position that he applied,” he added.
(Right now, now that he has left PhilHealth, he has four complaints against him, sexual harassment, so he is not qualified for the position that he applied for.)
Morales also noted that Philippine National Police kicked out Keith in 2017 for going AWOL. He added the lawyer also resigned as a graduating cadet of the Philippine Military Academy in 2010 “for the good of the service.”
Keith was one of the three officials of PhilHealthwho filed resignation over alleged corruption inside the agency.
Aside from the alleged corruption, Keith also said there is a rampant and patent unfairness in the promotion process and suggested that there should be a thorough investigation by an independent agency.
The former anti-fraud officer also accused Morales of running a “mafia” inside the state-run insurer.