President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday ordered arrest and investigation of officials from dialysis center who allegedly claimed payments for “ghost patients”.

“I’m ordering the National Bureau of Investigation… The NBI should take over by tomorrow and start to summon everybody,” Duterte said in an interview in Davao City.

“And if the owner of that wellness thing there where these fraudulent claims were discovered, arrest them. That is my order. Arrest them and investigate them right away. No ifs, no buts,” he added.

Duterte said he is ready to quarrel with its lawyers if they meddle.

“Remember that I will not order anything that is illegal. I cannot do that because I’m the President. What comes out from my mouth is already a well-thought-of way of doing it,” he said.

“The estafa is continuing. It is syndicated estafa. No bail. That’s why arrest them because right at this moment, the estafa, the malversation of money is continuing,” he added.

Former employees of WellMed Dialysis Center alleged the firm claimed payments from PhilHealth for dialysis sessions by dead patients.

Duterte expressed alarm over billions of pesos claimed by the company and he also ordered the investigation against PhilHealth officials for conspiracy.

"And to those hospital officials, you might want to just surrender… The Filipino people is demanding for truth. I'm very much interested to find out what happened to the money," he said.

“I told you, I cannot take any corruption,” he added.

On the part of National Capital Region Police Office, Major General Guillermo Eleazar said they are gathering evidences for case build-up.

“That is where we start because we cannot arrest (them) without warrant of arrest or (if) we caught them in the act. No, we are looking for information which will lead to evidence and case buildup. Once we have evidence, we will file a case,” said Eleazar in a radio interview on Sunday. Ella Dionisio/DMS