Photo from Philhealth website
MANILA, Philippines — “Be my guest.”
This was Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) chief Ricardo Morales’ response to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque who said that perhaps it is better to find someone else to enforce the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law.
“Masasabi ko kay Atty. Roque, be my guest. I will be very grateful if we can find somebody, baka siya. No problem with me. Anytime. But he’s not President, he’s the spokesman, that’s a different thing,” Morales said in an interview over ANC.
Roque earlier said it is unlawful to delay the UHC Law’s implementation.
Morales earlier appealed to delay the rollout of the program citing PhilHealth’s dipping revenue amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The President signed the UHC bill into law in February last year. But Morales previously said the full implementation of the landmark law may take up to three years due to funding and capability issues.
Asked if has talked to President Rodrigo Duterte about the agency’s woes, Morales replied: I don’t want to bother him. He has other more serious problem.
“We should come to him with a solution. That has not yet been obtained. Too early to bother the President on this,” added Morales.
Roque, who co-authored UHC when he was still a lawmaker, questioned Morales’ alleged inaction on the corruption within the agency.
Morales told Roque to file cases in court if he has evidence of corruption in PhilHealth.
Prior to his return as Palace spokesman, Roque filed in February graft complaint against PhilHealth officials for their alleged inaction on a scam involving the issuance of fake premium receipts to overseas Filipino workers .