Doctors and staff of Tricity Medical Center received vindication after a hospital clerk was convicted for ghost hemodialysis claims involving deceased patients at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) by the Pasig City Metropolitan Trial Court.

In a 20-page decision dated July 1, 2024, Pasig City MTC Branch 153 Presiding Judge Jesusa Lapuz-Gaudino found Svend Agodilos Rances guilty beyond reasonable doubt of 46 counts of Falsification of Official Documents by a Private Individual under Article 172, in relation to Article 171, of the Revised Penal Code.

Rances was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment ranging from six months of arresto mayor as minimum to three years, six months, and 21 days of prision correccional as maximum for each count, with full credit for time spent under preventive imprisonment, and to pay a fine of P50,000 per count, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.

The decision was a vindication for Dr. Gjay Ordinal, president of TriHDCare Inc., and the other owners, Drs. Jocelyn Cobankiat, Froilan de Leon, and Lourdes Reyes-Padilla, whose reputations were damaged by Rances' actions after they were initially implicated in the matter.

Earlier, Dr. Ordinal was among those cleared by the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the falsification and estafa cases filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The resolution stated that all elements of estafa were absent, and Drs. Ordinal, de Leon, and Padilla sufficiently established that they did not participate in the falsification of claim documents submitted to PhilHealth. A thorough forensic analysis by the PNP-QDED confirmed that their signatures in the falsified claims were forged.

Rances’ conviction was supported by testimonies from Dr. Gjay Ordinal, Czareene Manalo, Marife Abonitalla (PNP-QDED document examiner), Carine Galban, and Zayme Gaerlan, whose testimonies were found credible by the court.

The case stemmed from a complaint by Dr. Ordinal, president of TriHDCare, Inc., which manages the hemodialysis unit of TriCity Medical Center, Inc. Dr. Ordinal testified that Rances, who was employed as a PhilHealth clerk in the hemodialysis unit, had falsified Claim Signature Forms (CSF), PhilHealth Benefit Eligibility Forms (PBEF), and Statements of Account (SOA), entering false claims with PhilHealth for treatments allegedly received by 12 former patients of the hemodialysis unit.

Supporting Dr. Ordinal’s claims was an incident report submitted by Rances, where he admitted to filing fraudulent claims with PhilHealth.

"Rances' confession to the prosecution witnesses was voluntarily and freely executed. The declaration of an accused acknowledging their guilt of the offense charged, or of any offense necessarily included therein, may be given in evidence against them,” the Court stated.

The court also noted that during a hospital meeting on June 20, 2019, Rances freely and voluntarily admitted to entering false claims with PhilHealth for deceased dialysis patients.

“In the absence of a satisfactory explanation, one who is found in possession of a forged document and who used or uttered it is presumed to be the forger,” the Court emphasized.