Lawyers urged Hontiveros to return P1.7B illegal bonuses of Philhealth during her term

Senator Risa Hontiveros has had some trouble in her previous political 

performance when she sat as board member of Philhealth in 2013.

The National Association of Lawyers for Justice and Peace (NALJP) 

challenged Hontiveros in April 2016 to initiate the return of Php1.761 

billion unauthorized bonuses given to officers and employees of 

Philhealth in 2013 when she was still a board member.

He even elaborated that the Php 1.761 billion is a huge amount enough to 

cover medicines, medical needs, and medical services of several 

Philhealth beneficiaries.

Since PhilHealth funds are the people’s money, Ms. Hontiveros should show us 

that we can trust her with our welfare by leading efforts to get back 

the illegal bonuses. If she will not do anything about it, there’s no 

reason to be confident that she will indeed serve the people should she 

win,

” Santos said.

Hontiveros was still only a senatorial candidate that time when NALJP complained 

about the bonuses and Santos opined that her credibility as a public 

servant would only be established if she returned the illegal bonuses 

that were incurred during her term as Philheath board member.

Even when Philhealth argued that the bonuses it gave to its employees were 

covered by board resolutions, Commission on Audit (COA) stated that the 

Office of the President did not receive those resolutions, thus were not

 approved, which illegalizes the transaction under Section 6 of the 

Presidential Decree 1597.

Santos pointed out that Hontiveros is aware of this Presidential Decree, and 

yet did not pursue any legal action regarding the disbursement of 

bonuses.

It has never been reported that she [Hontiveros] has exerted any effort 

for the return of the illegal bonuses. Nobody knows if she had even 

opposed the unauthorized bonuses, or had just simply went along with 

those who allowed it

,” Santos emphasized.

Source: thinkingpinoynews.info