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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is willing to abolish the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation due to alleged corruption within the state insurer, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said Thursday.
Sotto said he was summoned to a meeting with the president Wednesday night where they discussed the Universal Health Care Act, the PhilHealth Act and possible amendments to the Anti-Bureaucracy Act.
“He said he wanted to abolish or privatize PhilHealth, but I told him it would be better to wait a few months and see how the new manager performs,” Sotto said. “I explained to him that PhilHealth is an insurance company and not a health entity.”
Sotto was referring to the former director of the National Bureau of Investigation, Dante Gierran, who was appointed by Duterte as the new president and CEO of PhilHhealth, weeks after retired General Ricardo Morales submitted his resignation.
While the Philhealth issue was being discussed, the president did not mention the name of the Secretary of Health, Francisco Duque III, who is accused of having something to do with the PhilHealth anomalies.
“He was ready to talk about it, but he didn’t mention the name,” Sotto said.
The Senate, in its report adopted by the Committee of the Whole, recommended that Duque, the ex-officio chairman of the PhilHealth board, be replaced by a more competent official, and that the Department of Justice indict him criminally and administratively.
Duterte has refused to fire Duque, saying that negligence is not reason enough to fire the chief of health.
“If you are not corrupt, you have no reason to resign,” Duterte said.
Despite not mentioning Duque’s status, Sotto revealed that he was able to discuss with the president his Senate Bill 1829 amending the Universal Health Care Act.
The bill proposes the appointment of the Secretary of Finance as ex officio chairman of the PhilHealth Board to replace the Secretary of DOH.
“He agreed with my proposal,” he said.
