MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he was stunned that the multi-agency task force created to probe Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) did not recommend the filing of charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for the fund mess involving the state insurer. No Del Rosario? Article 217 (Malversation) of the [Revised Penal Code] is very clear,” Sotto said in a Viber message to reporters on Monday. “Perhaps the Ombudsman would have a better perspective of the anomalies,” Sotto went on. But Sotto had stressed that Duque’s own admission that he had no knowledge of the allegedly anomalous distribution of IRM funds only proves that he had been negligent as PhilHealth board chair.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 15, 2020 01:18 UTC