PhilHealth’s Ricardo Morales unmasked
AFTER the testimonies of two whistleblowers at the
Senate hearing on the alleged financial irregularities at the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), we now tend to believe that Ricardo Morales, its president and chief executive officer, could be involved.
One of the whistleblowers, former anti- fraud legal officer Thorrsson Montes Keith, accused Morales of coddling the PhilHealth “mafia,” which he said was composed of the members of the corporation’s executive committee.
Keith said Morales had asked him to befriend Greco Belgica, one of the noisiest commissioners of the Presidential Anti- Corruption Commission ( PACC), to “massage” ( hilutin in Tagalog) the investigation of the alleged overpricing of Covid- 19 test kits.
Another whistleblower, Alejandro Cabading, a member of the PhilHealth board, backed Keith’s accusation.
Cabading said he had questioned PhilHealth’s P2.1- billion information technology project.
He said Morales blew his top, leading to an argument between the two of them at an online meeting some weeks ago.
At the rate the PhilHealth has been reportedly plundered by its own officials, the insurance fund might just go bankrupt next year as it would no longer have a reserve fund.
I think the citizenry would not mind if all those PhilHealth officials who, after the proper investigation, are proven to have been involved in the plunder of the agency would die under mysterious circumstances.
I remember years ago in my talks over dinner with the then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte when the topic touched on corruption.
Digong, if memory serves, told me he was offered three posts by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo — Defense secretary, Interior secretary and Customs commissioner — one after the other and he refused.
Whenever I asked him why he refused the offers, Digong would tell me in Bisayan, “Many corrupt officials in those agencies might die.”
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At the Ateneo de Davao, where Digong and I went for high school, the Jesuit priests told us if one stole P100 from a millionaire, he was committing a venial ( pardonable) sin, but stealing 10 centavos from a beggar was a mortal sin.
Why? Because a millionaire lost only a pittance and his pocket was not drained by the theft, while the beggar would be deprived of money to buy food for survival.
If PhilHealth goes bankrupt, how will lowly citizens pay their hospital and medical bills when they get sick?
And since those erring PhilHealth officials committed a mortal sin by stealing money from poor patients, they should suffer the supreme penalty — by court edict or extrajudicially.
If the Duterte administration can send drug pushers and dealers to their untimely demise, why can’t it send government officials who steal from the coffers bigtime?
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Morales violated the trust that the President placed in him when he offered him the plum PhilHealth post.
Digong told me he was appointing Morales to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) because “I can trust him.” Before being appointed to PhilHealth, Morales was MWSS chairman. Morales’ only qualification is that he and the President are both from Davao City.
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Now, let’s look at Morales’ record as a military officer. He graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1977. People who were already adults during the EDSA People Power Revolution will remember Morales.
He was the Army captain shown on national television by President Ferdinand Marcos. He had been captured by “loyalist” troops who caught him spying on rebel officers about to stage a coup. Morales was an aide-de-camp of the then first lady, Imelda Marcos. How can you trust a traitor?
After that EDSA People Power episode, his fellow officers did not trust Morales for “biting the hand that fed him.”
Although he reached the rank of brigadier general, he was only given minor assignments.
His last assignment before he retired from the military service was as chief of the posonegro (septic tank) disposal unit at Fort Bonifacio.
How a general, and a PMAyer at that, ended up in his last days in the military as head of the waste disposal unit in the Army general headquarters is a commentary on how his fellow officers regarded him. “Mabaho siya” ( He stinks), a fellow PMAyer said. Of course, the officer was saying it in a figurative sense.
Morales was introduced to then Mayor Duterte by a retired Coast Guard officer who was close to Digong.
At the time Morales was on “floating status,” meaning an officer with no assignment. “Naawaako sa kanyadahil lulugo-lugo” ( I took pity on him because he looked dejected), the retired Coast Guard officer said. After that, Morales hung out with Digong or served as an alalay ( factotum) to the mayor in public.
“Kung alam ko lang na magiging ganoon siya, ‘di ko na sana
siya pinakilala kay Boss” ( Had I known that he would become corrupt, I would not have introduced him to the Boss).
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This retired Coast Guard officer, who was Digong’s trusted man when he was still mayor, pointed out to me some people who also hung out with Digong before and are now exploiting their Cabinet positions.
For example, a Cabinet official we’ll call Mr. X was given a department that has something to do with money, the retired Coast Guard officer said.
He’s like a fox in a hen coop.
Mr. X, who worked at the Davao City Hall during Digong’s time, got the ATM ( automatic teller machine) cards of contractual employees and would skim from the wages of those employees during payday, the retired naval officer said.
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And now on the lighter side.
Woman 1 to Woman 2, who’s pregnant: Who’s the father? Woman 2: I don’t know. He was wearing a mask.
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Juan: Pareng Pete, what do you look at first in a sexy woman you meet on the street? Her face, boobs or legs?
Pedro: I’ll look at my wife first if she’s looking at me.
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As this column was being written, Wednesday, August 5, Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon was celebrating his 75th birthday.
The nation is so fortunate to have Gordon at the Red Cross and the Senate blue ribbon committee.
It’s amazing how Big Dick is able to do his two jobs as a lifesaver and a watchdog.