PhilHealth probably purchased the world's most expensive laptop for PHP 115.32 million

If we think about expensive laptops, the PHP 399,990 MacBook Pro 16 with 2.4GHz 9th Gen Intel Core i9 inside could be a top candidate.

What could it be?

Gamers might select the PHP 549,999 Acer Predator 21X. Content creators might point the PHP 649,995 Intel Core i9 ASUS ProARt StudioBook One.

However, the above-mentioned laptops are considered as dirt-cheap compared to the mystery laptops that PhilHealth purchased.

The government-owned and controlled corporation entrusted to implement universal health coverage in the Philippines purchased a PHP 4.11 million laptop. Aside from that, PhilHealth even approved the purchase of a laptop worth PHP 115.32 million.

There's no word yet regarding the full specs of the laptops.

Overpriced or just right?

According to ABS-CBN's report, Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) president Ricardo Morales and other high-ranking officials approved the purchase of overpriced equipment and software amounting to millions of pesos.

Alejandro Cabading, a certified public accounted PhilHealth's initial information and technology (IT) budget for 2020 was pegged at P2.1 billion, but the proposal was thumbed down after a review of the costs showed that multiple items were either overpriced or were redundant.

He added that the budget proposal was questionable because several items were priced up to quadruple the amount approved by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Cabading said that he tried to find a solution by raising the issue with the management, but it seems that the management is tolerating the act.

In his defense, Ricardo Morales told senators that he believed that there were no "major discrepancies" in PhilHealth's IT budget.

To read the full report, check our source below.

See also: PhilHealth exec says PHP 115-M budget covers over 1,000 desktops

What do you think guys?

Source: ABS-CBN