THERE are no missing funds, says the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth.
In a statement, PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Balena said that 87 percent of the P15-billion Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) that was earlier reported to have been lost to corruption in the agency has been accounted for, citing liquidation reports.
According to Balena, as of December 21, 2020, health care institutions have already liquidated P13.03 billion of the IRM funds in question.
With still 13 percent left for liquidation, Balena went on to claim that the supposed missing IRM funds are “all properly accounted for.”
Of the 711 health care institutions, only 353 have so far been able to fully comply. PhilHealth said they’re awaiting for 358 health care institutions to submit additional liquidation.
However, PhilHealth’s liquidation reports would still have to be validated by the Commission on Audit (COA).
IRM is a government mechanism embarking on cash advance extended to hospitals to attend to patients in time of calamities.
“So, these are not lost, these are not pocketed as alleged. The IRM is properly accounted for and this has been used for the patients,” Balena said.
Of the 17 state insurer’s regional offices, the National Capital Region got the biggest chunk with P1.93 billion. However, PhilHealth NCR was only able to liquidate P1.4 billion.
PhilHealth grabbed national headlines following revelations of former PhilHealth anti-fraud legal officer Thorrsson Montes Keith, who claimed of a systematic corruption scheme perpetrated by PhilHealth officials themselves.