MANILA – Newly-appointed Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) chief Dante Gierran was given until December 2020 to cleanse the corruption-ridden state insurer.
Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte gave instruction to “file all the cases that need to be filed” and “suspend and terminate” all erring PhilHealth officials within the deadline.
“It is an ultimatum. You need to clean up PhilHealth by the end of the year,” Roque said.
The spokesperson added that the President is considering the idea of abolishing or privatizing PhilHealth but the chief executive knew that it will still up to Congress to decide.
“Because PhilHealth was created pursuant to law, amended by the Universal Healthcare Law and it depends on the wisdom of Congress, if they feel that the legislative basis for the existence of PhilHealth should be amended, so be it, the President will respect that,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth spokesperson Rey Baleña said millions of Filipinos will bear the brunt should the state health insurer be abolished amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Nirerespeto po natin ang views, ang pananaw po ng ating Pangulo pagdating sa bagay na ‘yan pero siyempre po kung mawawala po ang PhilHealth ay napakalaki po ng magiging epekto nito sa ating bayan,” Baleña said yesterday.
“Napakagandang programa po ng National Health Insurance Program at taun-taon po milyun-milyong Filipino po ang natutulungan po nito kaya napakalalaking kawalan po kung mawawala ang PhilHealth. Kailangang kailangan po ito lalo na po sa ganitong panahon ng pandemya,” he added.
PhilHealth was created in 1995 to implement universal health coverage in the country. As a government-owned corporation, PhilHealth is tax-exempt and attached to the Department of Health.
Under the Universal Health Care Act of 2018, all Filipino citizens must be automatically included in the National Health Insurance Program either as direct or indirect contributors./PN
