WellMed execs charged
Credit to Author: WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT| Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:34:37 +0000
THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed charges of estafa and falsification of public documents against one of the owners of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center (WellMed) following inquest proceedings on Tuesday.
WellMed Executive Director Bryan Christopher Sy violated Article 315 and Article 172 in relation to Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code, the NBI said.
Also charged were WellMed executives: Dr. John Ray Gonzales, medical director; Claro Sy, chairman; Alvin Sy, corporate treasurer; Therese Francesca Tan-Sy, purchasing officer; Dick Ong, administration officer; and Doctors Porshia Natividad and Joemie Soriano.
Sy, along with whistle blowers Edwin Roberto and Liezel Aileen Santos De Leon, was held on Monday while giving his testimony to the NBI Anti-Graft Division even without an arrest warrant.
The NBI said the arrest was a case of hot pursuit under Rule 113 section 5(b) of the Rules of Court, which allows warrantless arrests “when an offense has just been committed” and the arresting officer “has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it.”
The complaint was filed by the NBI after Roberto and de Leon, former employees of WellMed, admitted that they processed the fraudulent claims on dialysis services on the instructions of Sy.
De Leon also claimed that Sy ordered her and Roberto to forge the signatures of the dead patients to justify their fraudulent claims from PhilHealth.
WellMed records showed that de Leon was hired on July 27, 2015 as PhilHealth officer and billing officer/cashier. She was solely responsible for the preparations of documents related to Philhealth such as claim signature form, claim form 1, claim form 2, statement of account (SOA), and Philhealth Benefit Eligibility form (PBEF).
Roberto said he was hired on October 6, 2015 as branch assistant manager. He was in charge of purchasing, daily checking of sales and preparation of deposits, checking of all monthly treatment census prior to submission to Philhealth, payroll preparation, accounts receivables preparation and monitoring, among others.I
n his affidavit, Roberto revealed that before he resigned in March 2018, PhilHealth paid WellMed a total of P600,600 consisting of 200 sessions from dead patients.
He added that there was also an unpaid claim of P208,000 for 80 sessions, which was eventually paid.
Roberto said PhilHealth settled a total of 27 claims amounting to P808,600.
Sy had claimed that Sebastian and de Leon pocketed the cash payment of patients who have exhausted their 90 dialysis sessions for the whole year, which PhilHealth was paying.
“To cover up for the company’s money that they have pocketed, they charged the amount to PhilHealth, including those who have already died and unable to finish their dialysis treatemnt,” Sy said. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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