Pangilinan says PhilHealth chief must have medical background

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Francis Pangilinan has expressed his “serious misgivings” about the appointment of former National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran as the new head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth).

This as the senator said he believes the person that must take the helm of the state-run insurance firm should have a medical background as well as financial expertise in order to address corruption issues hounding the agency and ensure that the firm can cover COVID-19 patients’ expenses.

“I have serious misgivings about the appointment given that we clearly need a more holistic rather than a simplistic law enforcement approach to the cancer confronting PhilHealth, in particular, and the COVID health crisis, in general,” Pangilinan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“There is also a question regarding his qualifications considering his lack of experience in the field of public health that Malacañang chose to ignore. His predecessor too had no public health experience and that ended terribly for PhilHealth,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte named Gierran as new PhilHealth chief, succeeding the embattled retired military man, Ricardo Morales, who resigned from his post at the height of investigations due to health reasons.

PhilHealth corruption issues resurfaced once more when anti-fraud officer Thorrsson Montes Keith resigned on July 23 due to alleged widespread corruption within the agency.

Keith claimed that members of the so-called PhilHealth mafia pocketed more than P15 billion in corporate funds.

Also, investigations revealed that PhilHealth procured several items like software and gadgets at a grossly overpriced rate — for example, an Adobe Master Collection Set priced at less than P200,000 was purchased for P21 million.

READ: Senators scold PhilHealth chief for not flagging ‘unbelievable overpricing’

President Rodrigo Duterte has subsequently urged Morales to resign, citing his illness that the Chief Executive said might affect his further management of PhilHealth. Morales reportedly has leukemia and has been undergoing chemotherapy.

Gierran, however, admitted that he does not have enough experience in public health services. Still, several government officials including Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda said the ex-NBI chief is qualified especially since he is an accountant by profession.

READ: Salceda believes Gierran qualified to be PhilHealth chief

Nevertheless, Pangilinan said he hopes Gierran would succeed in PhilHealth so that Filipinos would have access to proper healthcare.

“Hindi lang malaki ang problema ng PhilHealth at COVID, kailangan pa ng agarang solusyon. Mas makakabuti kung sa isang maalam na sa public health at finance binigay ang posisyon,” Pangilinan said.

(PhilHealth’s problem and the COVID-19 pandemic is not only huge, but these require an immediate solution. It would be better if the post was given to a person knowledgeable with both public health and finance.)

“For the sake of PhilHealth and the health of all Filipinos, my serious misgivings notwithstanding, I hope he [Gierran] succeeds where others have failed,” he added.

KGA