MANILA – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) should resume with its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing service following President Rodrigo Duterte’s word that the Philippine Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will pay its debts.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said there is no reason for PRC not to resume with its COVID-19 testing as Duterte himself said the government will settle the over P930-million debt.
“The President has committed to pay, I don’t think there’s any reason for the Red Cross to doubt that the President committed to pay,” Roque said in an interview over CNN Philippines’ The Source.
“And because of this, I believe testing should continue because the Red Cross has been assured that they will be paid,” he added.
In his public address on Monday, President Duterte said the government would “look for the money” to settle PhilHealth’s unpaid dues.
Last week, the PRC stopped accepting specimens from returning Filipinos, mega swabbing facilities and local government units, among others, due to mounting unpaid debt.
PRC was responsible for about one million COVID-19 tests, or nearly a fourth of the country’s total 3.8 million tests.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth said it has enough funds to pay its dues with the PRC and is only awaiting clearance from relevant agencies after recently-appointed president and CEO Dante Gierran ordered a review of its contracts and procurement.
“May sapat po tayong pondo, bahagi ‘yan ng ating COVID-19 response,” PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Balena told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
“Ang issue lang po dito ay kailangan lang po, gusto lang po makatiyak ni Atty. Gierran na nasa ayos po ang lahat bago po kami patuloy na magbayad sa Red Cross. Bahagi po ‘yan ng due diligence, ng maayos na pamamahala lalo na po sa pondo ng ating mga miyembro.”/PN
