The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) denied claims that the missing Php15 billion funds were stolen.

The state insurer said that the money went to hospitals and their COVID-19 expenses amid the pandemic.

“These funds were used to ensure that they are kept open, servicing our patients who will be affected by the pandemic,” PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Baleña told ABS-CBN News. “It wasn’t stolen. Because the fact that the hospitals received them, the fact that the hospitals were able to use these funds for their services to our patients, the fact that they are reporting this back to PhilHealth in the form of liquidation, these are proof that the funds are not stolen.”

The agency said that 92 percent or at least Php13.8 billion of the funds had been liquidated and they expect it to be finished next month.

“We have given the hospitals some leeway in submitting their liquidation given the situation, the constraints that they are facing. So, the reports are coming in and we’re happy that by next month, we will be complete with this liquidation,” Baleña said.

Senator Ping Lacson, on the other hand, said that liquidated funds don’t necessarily mean legally disbursed.

“Liquidation is different from audit. Say, if public funds were spent not for COVID-19 as required under the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) but for dialysis centers and infirmaries and which are clearly not authorized, it can still be declared as liquidated – but it does not mean funds were legally disbursed,” Lacson said in a statement.