PhilHealth chief: Duterte prefers, trusts retired military officials

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) President and Chief Executive Officer Gen. Ricardo Morales (ret.) said President Rodrigo Duterte’s preference for retired military officials was a key factor in his recent appointment to head the state health insurance agency.

“Well, the president has a bias for retired military personnel, so I think that’s one reason. I think it also helps that I happen to come from Davao, I’m a native of Davao. We go [way] back many years, when he was still mayor,” Morales said in an interview with ABS-CBN New Channel on Monday.

Morales was appointed by the President to lead the state health insurance agency a week after asking for the resignation of then PhilHealth chief Roy Ferrer and six appointed board members amid a dialysis claims mess.

The Inquirer earlier published a three-part investigative series on “ghost dialysis” treatments, overpayments and other fraudulent practices, and a “mafia” behind the padded PhilHealth claims

READ: Ex-general vows ‘cleanup’ as next chief of PhilHealth 

The 66-year-old retired army general was earlier appointed as Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) administrator and vice chairman, serving the unexpired term of former board member Reynaldo Velasco.

“The Executive Secretary called me up and he told me ‘there’s a bigger problem at PhilHeath, you go there.’ So like a good soldier, I go where I’m told, so here I am,” he said.

Morales graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1977 and served as president and chief executive officer of the Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association Inc. and chairman of the Armed Forces and Police General Insurance Corp after retiring from service in 2009.

Duterte, who has appointed multiple former military officials to Cabinet positions, defended his move to appoint retired military officials.

“When I appoint you, it’s not friendship. It has nothing to do with that,” the President told military officers and guests at the Army leadership turnover ceremony in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City last October.

READ: Not about friendship: Duterte on military appointments to Cabinet 

“Alam ng Board of Generals ‘yan, I promised that I will not tinker with your… I have yet even to call one Cabinet member or one military or police official. Alam ninyo ‘yan. I do not make calls,” he added.

Retired military officials appointed by Duterte include Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista and Information and Communications Secretary Gregorio Honasan, among others. (Editor: Gilbert S. Gaviola)