MALACAÑANG is inclined to adopt a Senate-backed option to tap Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to head the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth instead of abolishing the graft-tainted agency.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said at the weekend that when he and other Congress leaders met President Duterte late last week, the latter said he is relying on Congress leaders to help firm up options to effectively reform the PhilHealth mess.
“He [Duterte] wanted the help of both the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Sotto said in an interview with DWIZ, recalling that “yung una, pag upo pa lang niya, pagtingin sa akin, ang unang banat sa akin, sabi niya abolish na natin ang PhilHealth, sabi sa akin [at first, as soon as he sat down, he looked at me and said, ‘let’s abolish PhilHealth].”
The Senate leader said he was agape at first. “Napanganga nga ako, or privatize, sabi niya, parang tinatanong niya sa akin… sabi ko pwede talaga, pero ‘ika ko meron akong bill na palitan natin yung chairman, palitan natin ng Secretary of Finance ang Secretary of Health, kasi hindi naman health entity yan [I was open-mouthed, but then he added, ‘or let’s privatize it,’ as if he was asking me. I said, ‘yes, in fact I have a bill to replace the Secretary of Health with the Secretary of Finance as chairman of PhilHealth].”
Sotto said he pointed out to the President that PhilHealth is an insurance company, so it may be better to have it led by someone else, even as he suggested to Duterte that new PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran be given until the yearend to effect reforms in the agency.
Duterte, he added, asked him, “DOF?” and the Senate leader replied, “Yes sir, Secretary of Finance.”
The President then said, “Okay …good, I agree.”
Sotto surmised that “before the Finance Chief option, the President seemed inclined to privatize PhilHealth. That is his (Duterte) thinking. So, it was one of the reasons for the meeting, perhaps, I think.”
Gierran: Abolition not good
Meanwhile, the new PhilHealth chief, CPA-lawyer Dante Gierran, believes the possible abolition of the embattled agency will not be a good idea as such move will prove to be “counterproductive” for the Filipino people.
Speaking to CNN Philippines on Sunday, PhilHealth President Gierran said abolishing the agency may only hurt the Filipino people who look to the state health insurer for their health-care needs, said a report on CNN Philippines’s web site.
“Palagay ko [I think] it’s not good. It’s counterproductive to the Filipino people,” Gierran said in an interview with Newsroom Weekend.
“What will become of that [Universal Health Care] law if the President abolishes the PhilHealth? Saan pupunta ang mga tao natin? Wala na bang insurance corporation na in charge po doon sa ‘pag may kababayan tayo na nagkakasakit? Ang PhilHealth lang po,” [What will become of that law if the President abolishes PhilHealth? Where will our people go? Are there any other insurance corporations in charge of those who are getting sick? It’s only PhilHealth],” he said.
Gierran, meanwhile welcomed the challenge to effect vital reforms by yearend.
His first priority will be to conduct a “very wide” reshuffle of the beleaguered organization, the retired National Bureau of Investigation director said,” he added.
He did not elaborate beyond saying the reshuffle will cover the agency’s offices nationwide. He asked the public to give PhilHealth’s new leadership a chance to prove itself.