President Rodrigo Duterte gave newly appointed PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran until December 2020 to “clean up” the alleged corruption in the state insurer, Palace said Thursday.
“The deadline given to Attorney Gierran is a deadline to clean up the organization. File all the cases that need to be filed, suspend, terminate, whatever you need to do in order to cleanse the ranks of PhilHealth,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised briefing.
Gierran formerly served as the director of the National Bureau of Investigation, was appointed to lead PhilHealth only this month.
“Hindi naman po ibig sabihin na ang termino niya ay hanggang doon lamang,” he added.
The PhilHealth chief earlier vowed to eliminate corruption within the state insurer within two years.
“Sigurado ‘yan, kakayanin. Kakayanin ko talaga ‘yan,” Gierran had said.
He said he could fulfill his duties with the support of the President, Senator Bong Go, and his former colleagues at the NBI.
Also read: Roque says ‘worst is over’ for COVID-19 in Philippines
New PhilHealth chief given until December to ‘clean up’ corruption mess
“Ako mismo, I offer myself. I’m already a senior citizen, wala na akong ibang gagawin pa kundi ibalik sa komunidad ang whatever benefits that I have right now not only for Filipinos but a sense of Christian living…” Gierran added.
Meanwhile, Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III earlier revealed that President Rodrigo Duterte is considering abolishing or privatizing PhilHealth.
The Senate President revealed this Thursday after Duterte met with Sotto and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday in Malacañang.
“Sinabi niya [Duterte] na gusto niyang i-abolish o isapribado ang PhilHealth,” Sotto said.
“[B]ut I said it might be better to wait a few months and see how the new admin performs,” he added.
Sotto was referring to the leadership of the newly-elected PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran. The Palace first explained its decision to appoint Gierran, saying he could eliminate corruption and take care of insurance as an accountant and lawyer.
In August, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo passed House Bill 7429, which seeks to privatize some branches of PhilHealth to make it more effective in serving Filipinos.