Roque dares Morales to check whether his continued stay in PhilHealth good for country

June 19, 2020

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque challenged on Friday Philippine Health Insurance Corp. chief Ricardo Morales to check if his continued stay in the agency would be a service to the country or he could use his talents in  another area.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said it is "tragic" that Morales is taking things personally.

"This is not about me being the Presidential Spokesperson. This is about President Duterte's appointing Mr. Morales to fix the organization and eliminate corruption," he said.

He recalled when Morales was appointed at PhilHealth, he vowed to renew the trust of the members on PhilHealth.

"I enjoin Cavalier Morales to engage in self-examination whether he has made our people trust PhilHealth and whether this continued service in the agency would be a service to this nation which we both love so dearly, or whether his talents can be better utilized elsewhere," Roque stressed.

The word war between Roque and Morales erupted after the latter in a recent House hearing proposed that the implementation of Universal Health Care Law be delayed as PhilHealth is running out of funds due to coronavirus disease pandemic.

Roque pushed for the passage of the UHC Law when he was still a party-list representative prior to his initial appointment as Duterte's spokesman.

The Palace official accused that PhilHealth is losing money due to massive corruption.

Roque claimed Morales failed to clean up the agency.

He said Morales' remarks were yet another attempt to divert attention from a "damaging issue, which is that the PhilHealth head has failed to clean up the agency," which was the mandate given to him by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Morales has said there was no problem if he would be replaced.

He has said that Roque was not the President but the spokesman.

"This is not about me being the Presidential Spokesperson. This is about President Duterte's appointing Mr. Morales to fix the organization and eliminate corruption," Roque said.

He also refuted Morales on his statement that he should file cases in court if he has evidence of corruption against PhilHealth officials.

"Mr. Morales has the wrong view that only the courts can remove scoundrels in PhilHealth; when in truth, he has administrative powers to suspend and remove them," Roque said.

"Worse, he takes advice from lawyers who are the ones responsible fro the pitiful plight of the agency. A case in point when Mr. Morales took the advice from his counsels to withhold official documents in relation to WellMed ghost dialysis scam," he said.

Roque was referring to Wellmed Dialysis Center, which was allegedly engaged in "ghost dialysis" claims with PhilHealth allegedly in conspiracy with some of the agency's officials and staff.

Roque stressed that the National Privacy Commission had to opine what any person should know that internet privacy is not a shield from investigation for graft and corruption. Celerina Monte/DMS