Former Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) chief Ricardo Morales on Friday, October 16, filed a cyber libel complaint against the state insurer’s resigned anti-fraud legal officer Thorrsson Montes Keith.

Morales told Rappler in a phone interview that he filed the complaint Friday afternoon at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Taguig.

In an affidavit of complaint obtained by Rappler, Morales said that Keith’s television and radio interviews placed him in “a bad light in the public’s eye.”

“The first time that my family and I accessed and watched the videos and read the articles about the subject interviews from our residence in Taguig City, I was humiliated and distraught by such baseless and malicious allegations. My family was affected,” Morales said in his affidavit.

Among the interviews Morales cited in his affidavit were Keith’s interview on ANC on August 2 where the whistleblower labelled him as “coddler” of the so-called mafia within PhilHealth and the July 27 interview on TV Patrol where Keith said that Morales gave instructions to “massage” the issue on “overpriced” COVID-19 testing kits. (READ: Resigned officer says PhilHealth chief ordered him to ‘massage’ overpriced testing kits issue)

“Respondent Keith’s acts are indeed criminal in nature,” Morales said.

Keith resigned from his position in PhilHealth because of “widespread corruption” in the agency.  

In a text message to Rappler, Keith said that he was puzzled why Morales filed a cyber libel case against him.

“Bakit kasi ang tagal na lumabas ‘yong kaso sa kanya? Bakit ako pa na whistleblower ang unang makakasuhan?” Keith asked. (Why is it that it took so long for the resolution of cases against him to come out? Why would he file a case against me as I am whistleblower?)

Lawmakers in August investigated PhilHealth for alleged corruption as whistleblowers accused executives of pocketing some P15 billion ($309.6 million) in funds.

On August 26, Morales resigned from his position after President Rodrigo Duterte asked him to vacate his post due to his health condition.

Several top PhilHealth officials, including Morales, are now facing administrative charges. – Rappler.com