Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri bared Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) released P10 million to a 10-bed infirmary in Davao region. The hospital has no COVID-19 cases.
“Maraming schemes ‘yan (PhilHealth). Meron noon existing beneficiaries. May ospital sa Davao na 10-bed lang siya pero nakakatanggap ng P10M sa PhilHealth. Wala naman silang COVID,” Zubiri said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV on Sunday.
(PhilHealth has many schemes. There were existing beneficiaries before. A 10-bed hospital in Davao received P10 million from PhilHealth. They have no COVID-19 cases.)
The senator said the scheme was just discovered recently and it would be tackled in the Senate hearing.
“Opo, recently lang. Ilalabas po natin ‘yan sa hearing. Napakaraming schemes,” he said.
(Yes, just recently. We will tackle it in the hearing. There are many schemes.)
Zubiri then revealed in a Viber group with reporters that the hospital he was referring to was Golingay General Hospital in Malalag town, Davao del Sur.
The facility was an 18-bed infirmary which was allegedly among the top seven highest-paid hospitals in the Davao region for pneumonia claims in previous years.
Also read: PhilHealth exec who allegedly ripped pages of anomalous documents resigns
Zubiri: PhilHealth gives P10M to ’18-bed’ hospital in Davao
Zubiri’s PhilHealth document showed the said infirmary received pneumonia claims worth P18 million in 2014 and almost P10 million during the first semester of 2015.
The Senate leader said the issue had been investigated “officially” before but “nothing happened.”
GMA News Online reached out to Golingay General Hospital for a response regarding the allegation but has yet to receive an official response as of posting.
Zubiri said the Senate investigation should continue to unravel the truth about the corruption allegations in PhilHealth.
“Tuloy dapat ang Senate investigation. Kung ‘di tayo nag-imbestiga, ‘di mahahalungkat ito, ‘di malalaman ng taumbayan,” he said.
(Senate investigation should continue. If we will not investigate, this would not be discovered. The public would not know.)
The PhilHealth said earlier it is preparing to release the list of over 700 medical facilities that would receive a cumulative P15 billion claims to disprove the alleged anomalies in the agency.