Hospital clerk convicted over false documents

A hospital clerk who had been working at the Tricity Medical Center has been convicted by the Pasig City Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) for falsifying documents to defraud the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

In its 20-page decision dated 1 July 2024, Pasig City MTC Branch 153 Presiding Judge Jesusa Lapuz-Gaudino found the clerk — identified as 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 worked at Tricity Medical Center, where he submitted fake claims for hemodialysis treatments for deceased patients.

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

The court sentenced Rances to up to three years and six months in prison for each count and ordered him to pay a fine of P50,000 per count.

“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 said.

“The rationale for the admissibility of a confession is that if it is made freely and voluntarily, it constitutes evidence of a high order since it is supported by the strong presumption that no sane person or one of normal mind will deliberately and knowingly confess to a crime, unless prompted by truth and conscience,” it added.