PhilHealth defends bonuses

MANILA, Philippines - There’s nothing irregular about the more than P1.761 billion in bonuses and allowances that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. gave to its officials and employees in 2013, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Alexander Padilla said yesterday.

“PhilHealth respects COA but we are ready to go all the way up to the Supreme Court to have a definitive ruling on this,” Padilla said, adding he will not remove the allowances.

The PhilHealth chief was reacting to a report of the Commission on Audit (COA) claiming the P1.76-billion bonuses and allowances were unauthorized and without legal basis.

Padilla said the benefits are allowed under the Magna Carta for Health Workers and Republic Act 7875 or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995.

He invoked the rules and regulations of government-owned and controlled corporations for the allowances and other perks of PhilHealth executives.

“These were benefits and allowances given to PhilHealth for many years, even before my time. There is no current or new increase and there is no new benefit for PhilHealth,” Padilla said.

Last year, the COA questioned the incentives given to PhilHealth officials and employees in 2012.

“People here will hang me if I do that because they have been receiving these benefits for many years now,” he said.

Asked about the ethical aspect of the huge incentives, Padilla said the government has been subsidizing the poorest of the poor by paying their P2,400 in annual premium.

He said the agency also has more benefits for its members and their dependents, including the “catastrophic” package and is set to introduce the “preventive maintenance benefit package.”

“Four years ago we were paying around P300 million to P400 million a week. This time, we are paying P1.6 billion a week in benefits,” Padilla said.