Duterte, lawmakers meet on PhilHealth

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to abolish or privatize the controversy-ridden Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), but Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he asked the Chief Executive to give it a few months and see how it would perform under a new leadership.

Sotto also said the President agreed with his legislative proposal to make the finance secretary the chair of the PhilHealth board instead of the health secretary, since PhilHealth was more of an insurance corporation than a health institution.

Duterte on Wednesday met with leaders of Congress in Malacañang and expressed to them his wish to either abolish PhilHealth or turn it over to the private sector.

Sotto said he asked the President to give former National Bureau of Investigation Chief Dante Gierran, whom Mr. Duterte appointed to head PhilHealth on Aug. 31, a chance to show what he could do.

He also informed Duterte of his bill seeking to place PhilHealth under the leadership of the finance secretary.

“He said he wanted PhilHealth abolished or privatized but I said it might be better to wait a few months and see how the new administration performs and that I have a bill making the secretary of finance the chair of the board instead of the health secretary. He agreed to my proposal,” Sotto said.

Asked on Thursday to comment on Sotto’s suggestion, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III replied, quoting a Biblical passage of Jesus Christ praying at the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

‘Solid footing’

Dominguez said earlier that the Department of Finance (DOF) was working since late last year to ensure that PhilHealth can implement the universal health care program.

“The DOF team, composed of an undersecretary, the national treasurer, and a deputy commissioner of the Insurance Commission, has been working closely with PhilHealth since October of 2019 to achieve the President’s goal of providing universal health care,” Dominguez said.

He added: “While funding is a key component, improvements in their financial planning and control as well as actuarial systems are fundamental to the achievement of this goal. These will help plug all leakages so as to allow the funds from members’ premiums and the taxpayers to be utilized properly.”

“We are taking these issues in PhilHealth very seriously, and this administration fully intends to put PhilHealth on a solid financial footing that will allow us to fully implement the Universal Health Care Act,” Dominguez said.

Under Sotto’s bill, the health secretary would remain a member of the board. At present, the finance secretary sits on the insurer’s board, while also overseeing state-run firms like PhilHealth.

Mandate

The current health secretary, Francisco Duque III, chairs the PhilHealth board. But according to Sotto, Duque has been avoiding his mandate by designating a representative in the corporation.

In his explanatory note, Sotto said one of PhilHealth’s critical mandates is to have sustainable funds to ensure the efficient delivery of health-care services.

But recent anomalies linked to the state insurer have affected its actuarial life and caused alarm among the public, Sotto said.

The Senate earlier recommended the filing of criminal charges against Duque and other PhilHealth officials over questionable payments made to health-care providers under PhilHealth’s multibillion-peso interim reimbursement mechanism program.