JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday disclosed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reviewing the P100 million memorandum of agreement between the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) for COVID-19 testing.
This developed after new PhilHealth president Dante Gierran was quoted as having said that his agency will not pay its debt of almost P1 billion to PNRC due to the agreement’s legal infirmities.
“The DOJ is reviewing the MOA between the Philippine Red Cross and PhilHealth and will render an opinion within the week. (Will review) the whole MOA, but more particularly on procurement issues. We’re giving this our preferential attention, ” Guevarra said.
Just the other day, Gierran said PhilHealth will not pay the PNRC until all legal issues have been resolved amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“To be prudent about it, I will not pay unless everything is legally cleared,” Gierran reportedly said.
Gierran was referring to the agreement made by PhilHealth, under former President Ricardo Morales, and the Red Cross in May.
The Red Cross said that under the MOA, “a revolving fund of P100 million was supposed to be replenished immediately after it had been depleted.”
“PhilHealth never replenished this revolving fund. In fact, it is not PNRC advancing its fund for testing services as a result of the non-payment of PHIC,” it added.
Though the initial P100 million was not replenished, the Red Cross continued to process COVID-19 tests until PhilHealth’s debt reached P930,993,000.
