The letter that follows is addressed to Ben Kritz and Neil Alcober

First I marvel at your audacity in asking for my comments on an article your columnist had already written and published days ago. Whatever happened to the journalistic tradition of requesting the other side first to comment before coming out with speculations and conclusions that have no connection to reality whatsoever? I am particularly incensed at the way you stain, taint or otherwise destroy people’s reputations by a stroke of your poisoned pen.

Let me now answer your allegations. I certainly do not know the reason why you say that we managed to enroll only a third of the list named by Rep. Quimbo. If he had given us the amount equivalent to the premium contributions for a certain number of people, it doesn’t make sense for us to withhold it. He would probably be the first to complain if it were even half true. Unfortunate for you however, is the truth that a letter coming from Cong. Quimbo himself, dated 27 August 2013, requests that 2,729 of his constituents, who are still to be named, be allowed a year’s coverage from the time of its approval. There was difficulty in the initial listing due to various reasons, some names merely duplicated that of the NHTS whose premiums were paid for by the national government, others were already covered in other sectors, and a host of other reasons; in short, the list submitted by his Office and ours had to be first reconciled. How could someone be insured by PhilHealth when there is no corresponding name attached to it? For your clarity as well, the DBM allots the amount as requested by the legislator through the committee on appropriations. PhilHealth then is provided by the DBM with Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) followed by the Notice of Cash Allotment (NCA) indicating the amount commensurate to the number of families requested by the legislator to be enrolled. Subsequently this is even audited by the CoA if the allocations correspond to actual enrollees. So what the hell are you talking about PhilHealth purposively delaying the enrollment of his constituents? For one constituency and then have the temerity to say that “a spot check of other districts around the country reveals the same pattern?’ What pattern are you talking about? That you never bothered to check the facts? That you lied about one incident and decide to lie about all the others? What other parts of the country did you even bother to look?