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PhilHealth chief says he has yet to 'see' corruption, earns Tulfo's ire

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Adrian Ayalin, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Sen. Raffy Tulfo speaks during a Senate hearing on Jan. 17, 2023. Joseph Vidal, Senate PRIB handout" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/02/01/20230117-tulfo-raffy-senate-prib-2.jpg"/><figcaption>Sen. Raffy Tulfo speaks during a Senate hearing on Jan. 17, 2023. Joseph Vidal, Senate PRIB handout</figcaption></figure></div> MANILA — Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Acting President and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma on Wednesday said he has yet to personally see corruption in the state insurer, prompting Sen. Raffy Tulfo to remind him of allegations of bogus claims made by some hospitals.In a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography on proposed amendments to the Universal Healthcare Act, Tulfo asked Ledesma about the concerns of Overseas Filipino Workers who are supposedly not benefitting from their PhilHealth contributions.“Bakit maraming OFWs nagrereklamo na wala kaming pakialam dyan, bayad kami nang bayad bakit, nasan yung bayad namin, hindi po tumutugma,” Tulfo asked. (Why are many OFWs complaining that they keep paying, where are their payments, they do not match.) “Human nature kasi po, people are always, wanting for more, I think generally very few are satisfied, laging sana mas mataas sana mas marami,” Ledesma replied. (They keep hoping for more.)Tulfo shot back, “Ibig mong sabihin sakim at greedy ang mga OFWs natin?” (Do you mean our OFWs are selfish and greedy?)“I apologize for the comment your honor, what I needed to highlight is I feel that I would have to disagree,” Ledesma said.He then reported that PhilHealth collected around P210 million in premium from OFWs in 2021, but paid claims worth P1.42 billion. “It clearly shows po na nagbe-benefit po ang mga OFW sa claims ng PhilHealth,” Ledesma said. (OFWs benefit from PhilHealth claims.)<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2444003" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div>REFORMS, CORRUPTION </div>Sena. JV Ejercito meanwhile pointed out the need for a better information dissemination campaign on how OFWs can benefit from their contributions, after a Filipino worker in Hong Kong commented during the livestreaming of the hearing that some migrant workers were not aware that their dependents could avail of PhilHealth benefits.“Dapat i-inform niyo din sila, yung mga dependents nila in the country yun po ang shino-shoulder ng PhilHealth, so hindi pwedeng sabihin na wala silang nakukuha. Siguro po kulang tayo ng information campaign, they don’t even know that they can reimburse their hospitalization...expenses abroad,” Ejercito said. (You should inform them that PhilHealth shoulders their dependents in the country, so they cannot say that they get nothing. Perhaps we lack in information campaigns.)Ledesman agreed, saying &quot;One of the issues I felt we want to highlight with our program for PhilHealth reforms is the dissemination of information to everybody, we can really improve on that side.&quot; But tension between Ledesma and Tulfo rose again when the topic of computerization was brought up after PhilHealth was asked to submit a detailed report on benefits enjoyed by OFWs.Tulfo said that digitizing processes within the agency would not prevent corruption, while noting reports that a PhilHealth official accused of corruption was supposedly promoted.“Siguro po maglinis-linis kayo, linisin niyo po ang PhilHealth, mag-imbestiga po kayo sino sino po doon ang involved sa corruption,” Tulfo urged Ledesma.(Perhaps clean up PhilHealth, investigate who is involved in corruption.)The PhilHealth chief replied, “So far po, to be honest, wala akong nakikita.”(I see none.) “Wala po kayong nakikita? I am offended, even the taumbayan are offended, nag-hearing yan dito at maraming ebidensya nagpapakita na bogus claims na ifina-file ng mga doktor at mga ospital,” Tulfo said. (You don&#x27;t see anything? I am offended, even the people are offended, that went through Senate hearings and there was evidence of bogus claims filed by some doctors and hospitals.)The PhilHealth chief clarified that he was only 2 months into the job and that he fully understood Tulfo’s concerns on corruption.Ledesma said he was also looking into the allegations but he did not want to falsely accuse anyone.Before Tulfo left the hearing, he apologized to Ledesma and acknowledged that the PhilHealth chief was only appointed late last year.“I would like to apologize to Mr. Ledesma, bago lang nga po kayo, you came in prepared. Kaya po nag-init ang ulo ko sa inyo rin, magkaiba po kasi ang istilo ng pamamalakad natin, pamumuno natin so nag-clash tayo and kung kayo po ay na-offend sa mga narinig niyo sa akin, I apologize to you. But next time, ibahin niyo po ang istilo niyo sa panunungkulan sa tao para magbe-benefit po ang taumbayan,” Tulfo said. (I got peeved because our leadership styles were different, so we clashed. And if you were offended with what you heard from me, I apologize to you. But next time, change your style of public service so that the people would benefit.)Ledesma said he &quot;was not offended.&quot;&quot;In fact, I just really decided po when I accepted this position na will just work hard, be honest, do my best... Pasensya na rin po kung hindi kayo masaya sa sinabi ko, again trabaho lang talaga po,” Ledesma replied. (I also apologize if you were unhappy with what I said. Let&#x27;s just work.)

PhilHealth chief Ledesma said he has yet to see corruption in the state insurer, prompting Sen. Tulfo to remind him of alleged bogus claims. 

PhilHealth chief says he has yet to 'see' corruption, earns Tulfo's ire

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PhilHealth chief says he has yet to 'see' corruption, earns Tulfo's ire

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 01, 2023 05:02 PM PHT

|

Updated Feb 01, 2023 05:52 PM PHT

Read More:

Philhealth

Emmanuel Ledesma Jr

Raffy Tulfo

OFW

Senate

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