Actress and host Ria Atayde and other netizens reacted to the news that a House panel in Congress approved filing charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other cabinet members amidst the PhilHealth corruption issue.
On her Twitter account, Ria retweeted the news from ABS-CBN with a GIF meme of Britney Spears being all giddy with excitement, seemingly celebrating the turn of events.
https://t.co/JBbxJ56oNk pic.twitter.com/ARn3x1nqee
— Ria Atayde (@RiaAtayde) October 27, 2020
Then, other netizens followed and retweeted the news with their celebratory tweets.
Yazzzz https://t.co/kMVcELX7TC
— Jett (@thatguynamedjc) October 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/caradestinyyy/status/1321042416913190912
https://t.co/olcQLWqTZn pic.twitter.com/wet2d0LVaG
— Jesselee Tintiangko (@JTintiangko) October 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/ruiyukiko_/status/1321005909825351680
One netizen also slammed the statements of President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the issue against Duque.
"Si Duque, walang nanakaw kung pera ang pag-usapan. Maybe some other things, there might be some other thing pero corruption, pera? Wala." –Duterte sa mga alegasyon kay Duque
ULOL. https://t.co/ZQKJbBBtV9
— Ted Pylon (@TedPylon) October 27, 2020
On the other hand, some netizens were skeptical about the approval. Some believes that Duque might not be held accountable for the corruption issue in PhilHealth.
https://twitter.com/polcatawanewwie/status/1321119724529307648
Pero hanggang file lang ito. Para masabing may action. Pero di nman mapaparusahan talaga. https://t.co/uv9Ufv97Pm
— 𝖎𝖆𝖒𝖑𝖎𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖞
(@libs_freedom) October 27, 2020
On October 27, 2020, a House panel including Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor recommended filing corruption cases such as plunder, graft, malversation, and criminal charges against Duque and PhilHealth officials.
The recommendation was a result of issues in PhilHealth that surfaced after a whistleblower exposed the rampant corruption practices in the state-run insurance agency. First, the 170 million pesos funds lost due to not collecting penalties, then the interim reimbursement mechanism, and finally, the overpriced equipment for PhilHealth’s IT system.
