Have you no scruples, doc?

Herbie Gomez .

A COMPLAINT filed with the Office of Ombudsman on Oct. 31. 2018 should be of interest to the millions of Philhealth members and beneficiaries both in the public and private sectors. What’s bothersome is that the subject of the complaint, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) acting president and chief executive officer Roy Ferrer, merely dismisses the complaint as a “misguided retribution”  by his subordinates whom he said resented the organizational reforms he has initiated.

I have secured a copy of the complaint and have noted that Dr. Ferrer’s accusers listed instances of what really look like conflicts of interests on the part of the head of the nation’s primary health coverage provider.

The complainants are lawyers Jelbert Galicto and Suzette Punay, Patrick Angelo Uy, Khristin Tan, Germaine Tan, Johanna Blason, Christopher Molina, Rosalie Anne Bajo, Maria Teresa Tesoro, Mary Grace Socorro Gonzalo, Jonas Matthew Pang, and Filbert Bryan Sollesta. They accused Dr. Ferrer of violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, Government-Owned Corporations Act, Malversation of Public Funds and Property under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code, the National Health Insurance Act, Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and guidelines set by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations.

Dr. Ferrer was appointed to the Philhealth board in February 2017. He assumed as Philhealth acting president and CEO on June 5, 2018 or a little over a year later.

The problem, according to his accusers, is that Ferrer did not divest himself of his interests in any of his private business enterprises. In fact, they alleged, he continued to receive Philhealth benefit payments accruing from his Philhealth accreditation.

One case in point: Ferrer applied for, and was duly granted a three-year Philhealth accreditation as a healthcare professional by Philhealth’s vice president for the Davao region on May 14, 2018. While he wasn’t Philhealth’s president yet at that time, the physician was already sitting in the corporation’s board as a director. Didn’t it occur to Dr. Ferrer that as a member of the Philhealth board, he was legally and morally bound to divest himself of business interests that are clearly incompatible with his participation in the Philhealth payment cycle? Here, we see an official who may have used his position or influence to cause Philhealth disbursements or payments to Philhealth-accredited health care practitioners such as himself. The situation is problematic from whatever angle one looks at it — a Philhealth official pays himself as a Philhealth-accredited physician at the expense unsuspecting Philhealth members who contributed portions of their hard-earned money so that when the need arises, a GOCC would be there to provide them aid.

According to the complainants, Ferrer received a total of 271 claims amounting to some P3.726 million “attended or co-managed” by Ferrer himself between March 2017 and June 3, 2018. Of these, 192 claims (79 percent) — P604,080 in professional fees and P1.4 million as hospital share or a gross of P2,013,600 — were allegedly signed by Ferrer as the sole attending physician while he sat as a member of the Philhealth board. Needless to say, the professional fees were in addition to the salaries, allowances and other juicy perks that he received as a member of the Philhealth board and, subsequently, as acting president and CEO of the corporation.

The complainants listed Davao medical institutions that Ferrer allegedly continued to engage in professional and financial partnerships, and from which he allegedly filed claims for Philhealth benefit payouts while he was serving as a member of the Philhealth board and even when he already became the corporation’s acting president and CEO. In the complainants’ list are the Ricardo Limso Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, Davao Medical School Foundations Inc., Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc., San Pedro Hospital of Davao City Inc., Metro Davao Medical and Research Center Inc., Anda Riverview Medical Center Inc., and Adventist Hospital-Davao Inc..

The complaint is very detailed and Dr. Ferrer owes the public, specifically the Philhealth members, a detailed explanation. He cannot just say that the complaint was filed by sour grapes or Philhealth workers with an axe to grind because that is not an acceptable answer at all. Assuming that there was ill-motive on the complainants’ part, the serious question remains: Did the Philhealth official cause payments to himself as a Philhealth-accredited physician or not?

We really do not need a law or a set of government rules to know why that is not right. Delicadeza is the word. Doc, don’t you have any scruples? Pastilan.