MALACAÑANG on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, defended the appointment of former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Dante Gierran as the new president and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
In a public briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the president of the state insurer does not have to be a medical expert.
He said Gierran, who is a lawyer and accountant, has had seven years of management experience.
“Isa po doon sa requirement ay management experience at of course Gierran already has seven years of management experience. Hindi naman po kailangan ng health, economics experience. Nag-qualify po siya sa seven-year management,” Roque said.
Section 14 of the Universal Health Care Act, or Republic Act 11223, requires the president and CEO of PhilHealth to have “at least seven years of experience in the field of public health, management, finance, and health economics or a combination of any of these expertise”.
Roque said Gierran, being the former director of the NBI, has the capability to conduct investigations on anomalies inside PhilHealth.
“Ang problema po sa PhilHealth kurapsyon, so naisip po ng Presidente [Rodrigo Duterte], ang pinaka magaling na italaga diyan, number one, ‘yung mayroon ng kakayahan na mag-conduct ng imbestigasyon, at ito nga po si Director Gierran,” Roque said.
“Bukod pa po doon, dahil ang mga krimen na nagaganap po sa PhilHealth ay tinatawag na ‘white collar crimes’ ay kinakailangan nakaka-intindi rin po ng mga financial reports at balance statements. I think Director Gierran is the best choice dahil siya ay CPA at lawyer,” he added.
Duterte on Monday night announced Gierran as the new head of PhilHealth. He will take over the post vacated by Ricardo Morales, who resigned due to medical reasons.
Gierran came under fire Tuesday when he declared in a television interview that he was “scared” of being given the task to head PhilHealth because he does not know anything about public health and the state insurer’s operations.
For his first task as PhilHealth president, Gierran was asked to reshuffle regional vice presidents.
In a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing last August 25, Senator Richard Gordon claimed that PhilHealth’s regional vice presidents are the real “mafia” benefiting from the agency’s fraudulent insurance claims.
According to Gordon, the regional officers have been abusing the cataract rates by collecting claims amounting to P17.35 billion since 2009.
He added that PhilHealth refunded claims amounting to P68.65 billion for some 4.76 million pneumonia patients from 2014 to 2020 when Department of Health data showed only 2.44 million cases of pneumonia from 2015 to 2020.
Roque said he believes reshuffling PhilHealth officials must be done regularly.
“Tingin ko naman po this should be done regularly kasi nga po hindi naman dapat nagtatagal diyan sa mga regional offices dahil nga nagkakaroon na sila ng sariling kingdom,” Roque said. (SunStar Philippines)