PhilHealth Senior Vice President Augustus de Villa, who earlier accused of ripping pages of alleged anomalous documents resigned, Thursday.
De Villa, who also attended the Senate hearing on Tuesday with other PhilHealth officials copy furnished Senate President Vicente Sotto III with his resignation letter dated August 6.
“I hereby tender my irrevocable resignation, effective immediately… The Vice Chairman knows full well the reasons,” it read.
“Be assured that I will make myself available for the ongoing investigations in aid of legislation in both Houses of the Congress of the Philippines,” it added.
Sotto said De Villa “must have a very good reason for resigning in the midst of the controversy.”
During the hearing on Tuesday, Senator Panfilo Lacson said pages of the document regarding an award for the purchase of overpriced network switches had been ripped.
Lacson said PhilHealth awarded a P4.8-million contract for 15 units of CISCO catalyst switches in 2019. However, the actual cost of the items in the market is only P939,000.
The senator said the procurement did not happen.
“As a matter of fact, I think one of the board members, sino ‘yung… kasi napirmahan na ito eh, and then medyo pinunit ‘yung mga pages na pirmado kasi alam niyang sasabit,” Lacson said.
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Resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith said it was Senior Vice President Augustus de Villa who ripped the pages because he knew they were anomalous.
De Villa, who is a retired military general, denied the allegations.
De Villa said he had been very cautious when it comes to procurement in his 30-years military career.
He added he believes the documents are still there, but could not remember where they are, adding he will “try to find out.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III then ordered the Senate secretariat to issue a subpoena duces tecum for the missing documents.
Meanwhile, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said other PhilHealth officials should also resign amid the alleged corruption allegations.
“I think all senior executives should, out of delicadeza, resign. But unless [Health Secretary Francisco] Duque resigns, then we will see little or no progress in effectively managing the pandemic,” he said.