Pardon the silly suggestion, but this might as well be the new email address of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHILHEALTH), if you base it on Senate President Tito Sotto’s unsavory description after concluding a legislative inquiry into the alleged anomalies in the state health insurer.
“It’s a carousel of denials and lies,” he said in total exasperation, apparently feeling being taken for a (joy) ride by a number of top officials of the institution during the hearings, both virtual and physical, recently.
Truth is so valuable, said Winston Churchill during World War II, it has to be protected by a bodyguard of lies. He was referring to war intelligence being guarded against the counterintelligence of the enemy.
Could there be a similar stragem at the beleaguered institution that’s supposed to heal people, not hide something as sinister as systematic and scaled stealing of government funds?
The main issue is corruption, unbridled and shameless anomalies that have bled– confirmed by both the whistleblowers and those in direction of the whistle– the agency of billions of pesos in alleged fraudulent transactions, COVID and non -COVID related.
What could be the truth behind Phihealth’s “bodyguard of lies”?
It could be nothing less than earth-shaking truth whose ramifications could lead not only to PHILHEALTH’s total organizational revamp,probably even abolition, and the unmasking of big-time criminals in high-places using government uniforms.
But that’s getting ahead of the story.
Curiously, even before the Senate has come up with its findings and recommendations, the Office of the Ombudsman has already ordered the suspension of some PHIlHEALTH officials.
Interestingly, and curiously as well, two prominent officials were not included in the suspension list: Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, PHILHEALTH Chairman, and PHILHEALTH President Ricardo Morales.
If you ask some senators, the two should be made to answer for the sordid mess on the principle of command responsibility. The take-away is one or all of the following: ignorance, incompetence and complicity. The testimonies of former or present PHILHEALTH officials are damning in this direction. For one, a mafia is alleged to orchestrate the whole nine yards of illegal activities in the agency. Guess who is believed to be the head of the mafia?
Was the carousel Sotto had in mind the homespun equivalent of omerta?
You can make a reasonable, even a valid, guess that the Ombudsman’s exclusion of Duque and Morales from the suspension order took a cue from President Duterte’s earlier attestation of their integrity.
There are countervailing factors, however, which will pose an institutional problem for the Ombudsman later for its seemingly premature decision. There are the earlier findings of the Philippine Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC ) that called for a more serious action, and the forthcoming Senate report and recommendations which, presumably, may not be entirely different from the PACC’s.
Will the Ombudsman continue to take the President’s word for it or will it change its mind based on the facts and evidence as adduced from the PACC and the Senate reports and recommendations?
The Ombusdman has, wittingly or unwittingly, pushed itself into a corner by coming up speedily with its suspension. It could have waited for the conclusion of the Senate probe or the result of the investigation by the multi-agency task force formed by the President precisely to look into the Philhealth alleged shenanigans.
It’s now a choice between shoring up the President’s credibility on his avowed anti-corruption policy or affirming the credibility of the other institutions which have done their own investigation on the matter.
It’s hard to imagine a win-win situation for the Ombudsman on this corruption issue, though not an impossible challenge (remember, only in the Philippines?), which can no longer be made analogous to a story about blindmen asked to describe an elephant on the basis of touching its anatomy.
Too many people already know and are convinced that it’s an elephant — or maybe a cash cow — and that it’s a sick one, very sick and something must be done about it.
In “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell recounted an experience in Burma in which he shot an aggressive elephant, which had killed a man, against his better judgment, because that was expected of him and he didn’t want to look like a fool.
The Ombudsman must be aware of its moral options, too.
But you’ll never know, a ‘hilot’ could do a miracle.
