Palace commends Philhealth chief after 43 officials gave courtesy resignation

October 9, 2020

Malacanang on Friday commended Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) President and Chief Executive Officer Dante Gierran after 43 senior officers followed his directive and resigned from their post. 

In a statement, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said they welcomed the implementation of Gierran of an old PhilHealth board resolution directing all senior officers with Salary Grade 26 and above to tender their courtesy resignation. 

Roque said this is what his predecessor, Ricardo Morales, “blatantly failed to carry out”. 

“We commend PhilHealth PCEO Gierran for his display of decisiveness,” he said. 

“We consider this latest development in PhilHealth a step in the right direction as this is in line with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive to reorganize the state health insurer, make erring officials accountable and give the agency a fresh start,” he added.

Last September 30, Gierran released a memorandum implementing the resolution promulgated in 2019. 

On Thursday, Philhealth said a total of 43 senior officers have already responded to Gierran’s call.

"(These) senior officers from Salary Grade 26 and above (have) tendered their courtesy resignation," it said in a statement.

Of the 43 officials, 27 tendered courtesy resignation while the other 16 opted for retirement. 

Among those who resigned, 21 are from the central oOffice while the remaining six are from their regional offices and those who opted to resign, 10 are from the central office while six came from regional offices. 

Duterte has given Gierran until the end of the year to clean PhilHealth of corrupt officials following allegations of massive corruption and the reported P15 billion missing funds due to fraudulent schemes in the agency.  

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, head of the Task Force PhilHealth, has said that criminal and administrative charges would be filed against some PhilHealth officials, including its former president and CEO Ricardo Morales. Ella Dionisio/DMS