PhilHealth official now believes agency can’t overturn court decision

Two House committees cite PhilHealth senior manager Atty. Rogelio Pocallan in contempt following a heated debate on issues hounding the state insurance agency. Pocallan was detained at the House of Representatives until August 31. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Contrary to his previous pronouncement, an official of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) now believes an administrative body such as the state insurance agency cannot overturn decisions made by the court.

PhilHealth senior manager Atty. Rogelio Pocallan said this Wednesday as lawmakers quizzed him anew regarding the previous pronouncement that led him to be cited in contempt and detained in the House of Representatives for four days.

During the joint online and physical hearing of the House committee of public accounts and the committee on good government and public accountability, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga asked Pocallan once again if an administrative body like PhilHealth can modify a court decision.

“I think you are correct. The decision of the court should not be modified especially if it is final and executory,” Pocallan said while admitting that there have been other cases wherein PhilHealth modified the decision of the court.

Pocallan made the remark after an official of the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that court decisions are immutable and can only be changed if there is a correction of clerical errors.

“‘Yung mga decision po ng korte, totoo yun, immutable yan. I think this is the point made by Ombudsman Samuel Martires who used to be a Supreme Court justice. Sabi nga niya the only body who can modify the decision is the court itself,” Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay said in the same hearing.

(The decision of the court, that true, it is immutable.)

This ran contrary to an earlier statement made by Pocallan saying that PhilHealth can modify the decisions of the court, particularly the Court of Appeals.

Pocallan was cited in contempt for making such a remark.

The incident stemmed from the case of the Perpetual Succour Hospital Inc. in Cebu, which was earlier found guilty of two counts of extending the confinement period of a patient, in violation of the PhilHealth law.

The original decision of PhilHealth’s Prosecution Department was to suspend Perpetual Succour for three months and to slap it with a fine of P10,000.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision. But in a board resolution, the PhilHealth board reversed the suspension and instead ordered the hospital to pay a P100,000 fine.

JPV