PhilHealth IT Project flagged as overpriced by COA

The Commission on Audit has flagged PhilHealth’s PHP 2.1 billion IT project with overpriced equipment and software.

Initially designed to “stem fraud and scams devised by some corrupt personnel,” the IT project itself was found with several irregularities by the Commission on Audit and PhilHealth’s resident auditors in three separate reports. The biggest red flag was the procurement of various equipment worth PHP 734 million that was not part of the original budget proposal submitted by the state insurer.

Image Source: Inquirer.net

In the report submitted in May, COA auditors found that the budget for five ICT resources, including computers, scanners, and other items, was overpriced by PHP 98 million. An Adobe software which cost PHP 168,000 per unit was also listed 12,400% higher at PHP 21 million each.

Due to the increase in prices, the items under “application servers and licenses” was increased to PHP 40 million from the initial PHP 25 million budget.

The Inquirer’s sources also report that the irregularities found in PhilHealth’s IT project were one of the reasons why Thorrsson Montes Keith, former PhilHealth antifraud officer, quit on July 23. In his letter addressed to PhilHealth’s president and CEO Ricardo Morales, Keith said “widespread corruption” was one of the reasons for his resignation.

Source: Inquirer

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