FIRST PERSON where the
rn a iamously ungovemable chamber.
ALEX MAGNO
Magellan
f, After saying he will not
l-l interfere in the fisht for
L \speaker of the Houi, pres-
ident Rodrigo Duterte relented
and said he would announce his
endorsement on ]une 28.
That day came and went. An
obviously tortured Duterte made
no endorsement. He had said it
was too painful to choose among
friends.
Over the weekend, the President admitted he
proposed a term-sharing formula last week. In that
formula, Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano would serve as
Speaker for the first 15 months and Lord Allan Velasco
would serve the remaining 2l months o{the incoming
Congress.
That l5-21 formu.la has been nicknamed the ,,Masel-
lan" scheme. The explorer landed in what is now"the
Philippine Islands in the vear 1521.
The formula, discussed hst week durins the victorv
celebiation of the Hugpong ng Pagbab{o alliancri,
was agreed upon rn a face-to-face meetinq between
the President, Cayetano and Velasco. fhe "two rivals
agreed to the formula.
The very next day, howeve4, Velasco,s catnp an-
nounced a marti{esto of support for h.is bid siened bv
the leaders of two political pa*ies and two collitionJ.
Individual mernbeis of the sirpposed signatory factions
quickly questioned the maniiesto, tu!i.,g t6"y *"r"
not fully consulted. Among these are ineirber6 of the
party-list bloc and even mdmbers of the pDp-Laban.
, Cayateno accuses Velasco of'bad faith h issuing
the manifesto the day after their meeting with thE
President. He accuses Velasco of lying abouithe verbal
aSreement now confirmed bv thi p6sident no less.
Senator Bong Go adds iredence to Cavetano's
claim. He quotes tle President as having told the two
contenders: "Just to breal the impasse, l6t us have this
formula (the "Magellan" scheme).,,
President Duterte was set to announce the tem-
sharing deal. He was, however, preempted bv the
release last Wednesday of the supposed'multi-iarty
mantesto ot support.
The PDP-Laban, with Manny pacquiao as chief
.brokeq, has been pressuring tlre f'resid6nt to endorse
someone fmm his home party. This is not the first time
tNs particular patty insisted on promoting its own
members to key positions. tn 2016, ihe parry;sisted its
sole senator, Koko Pimentel, become Senaie president.
We know what happened witl that.
Now th_at sarne party is insisting one of their o$,n,
no matter how iunior, be elevated to the toD Dosition
in the House,of Representatives. Forfhis, the'oartv is
willing to defy {he-wishes of_its own nonlinal'leaier
"p\cr.--ba
"irting party" it a"" th" ,"n"sia;'flJJn
The PDP-Laban endorsement of Velasco de facto
eliminates t}le two other aspirants from the sarne oartv.
One of those aspirants, former speaker pantaleo'n
Alvarez, has been increasingly vo'cal about the role
of money is settling the Houieleadershio ouestion.
For Cayetano, tfie scuttline of tlre ,,Miag; an,, for-
mula and the lying that folJo-wed it bringi front and
center the matter of character.
Whistleblowers
There are whistteblowers and there are whistleblow-
ers. Not all o{ them speak an untarnished truth.
But media is always too keen to celebrate whistle-
blowers and overlook quirks in motives. That coitld.
be a dangerous disposition.
Two former employees of WellMed Dialysis and
Laboratory Center Corp. came out a few w6eks ago
with claims the compiny committed fraud whEn
it charged to the accounts of dead beneficiaries the
treatrrent of other pa tients. Those claim s fi t nicelv into
prejudices we already hold; the philHealih system is
badly run and clinics ihatpass the costs of treadng ben-
eficiaries to this system regularly get away with #ams.
Not too long ago, various icims involvine ireat-
ments charged to PhilHealth were exposedlThese
include unnecessary operations for cataiact problems
ard questionable diagnoses of supposed pneuJno_
4a c$gs. If all the pnEumonia claiiis *"rd m.,u, *"
should have declared an epidemic outbreal vears aso.
While the institutional wiaknesses of the IjhilHe;hh
are well known, there are elements in the version we
are being told by former WellMed emplovees Edwin
Roberto and Liezel Aileen de Leon *rai do not snuelv
fit. A more thorough investigation should estabtsf; if
itlvasthecompany or only the two former employees
thai benefited from the friud that was s.rpposid io b"
committed.
Meanwhilg PhilHeatth summarily suspended the
accreditation of WelMed. This cuts thi comlpany's rcv-
enue flow, dislocates theiremployees and leive's manv
dialysis patients without services they need in shoit
intervals. It is to the hterest of philiJealth officials
to immediately distance themselves frorn the allesed
fraud and pin all wrongdoinq to the orivate comoinv-
.ln *ie media coverage of y-et anothir ,,ui.histl"blo*_
liitlu is
said about the backgro-undi of the two ""po"",
ers." The backgrounds could raise serious questions
about motive.
Bbth Roberto and de Leon were hired as assistant
branch manager and biJling officerT cashier resoec-
tively in 2015. They were the ones who rook iash
P:yTgntl from patients who have used up their free
90 dialysis sessions and documented thoie sessions
for PhilHealth reimbursements.
The two are real-life partners with a child between
them, a detailthey did not immediately disclose. Thev
were the ones who forged the signatuies of dead beri-
eficiaries and received cash pa1'rnents not reflected in
company records.
Lawyers for WellMed clairn the irresul arities besan
only in 2017. This was after the rwdasked for iav
inceases that the company denied because of tJrei'r
poor?erformance. WellMed eventually dismissed the
two for poor performance of their duties. Thev could
have a reason for taking down their former ernolover. .
WellMed will have its day in court to face ihe
charges leveled by the coupli. The company looks
forward to that.
*