Regretful ex-PhilHealth chief: I underestimated time to put up IT project

Resigned PhilHealth president and Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Morales. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — For former Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) chief Ricardo Morales, his regret in his stint as the state insurer’s president was he underestimated the time needed to establish its information technology project.

“I underestimated the time required to put the IT system up and running,” Morales said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked what he thinks he could have done better as PhilHealth chief.

Citing a World Bank report, Morales said PhilHealth was facing “organizational, structural, financial, technical, political and cultural problems” or “a polite way of saying it’s going to fail.”

“I underestimated the time to put up the IT project on which I put a lot of hope. I underestimated that. There were some issues on the board. Some board members did not understand IT. That was unfortunate. That was what I regret not doing,” Morales further said.

PhilHealth’s alleged overpriced IT project was among the irregularities investigated by both the House of Representatives and the Senate along with a task force headed by the Department of Justice.

But Morales had defended the supposed questionable IT project, saying it would help PhilHealth stop fraud and scams within the agency.

Morales has resigned as PhilHealth chief after President Rodrigo Duterte asked him to step down due to his health condition.

The former PhilHealth chief, amid probe being conducted within the state insurer, earlier took a medical leave as he is battling lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Duterte replaced Morales with former National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran.

JPV