Palace: Ex-PhilHealth chief Dela Serna fired over excessive travels, agency debt

Allegations of excessive travels and mismanagement of funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to fire Celestina Ma. Jude dela Serna as its interim chief, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Dela Serna's fate was sealed after a senior Palace official, whom he did not identify, investigated the complaints and made a recommendation to Duterte to fire her.

"We need a completely honest PhilHealth if we are going to have a successful universal health care [program]," Roque said at a press briefing in Seoul. "'Yung mga reklamo sa kanya...'yan po ay hindi katanggap-tanggap."

Duterte named PhilHealth board member Dr. Roy Ferrer last week as acting chief of the agency which is mandated to provide health insurance coverage and ensure affordable and accessible health care services for all Filipinos.

"He is still an OIC [officer-in-charge]. The President has not closed his option on who eventually the Philhealth president will be because otherwise the appointment would have been made permanent," Roque said.

Dela Serna's removal came a month after the Commission on Audit released its report finding that she had spent P627,293.04 to cover her travel expenses to and from her home province of Bohol to Manila.

Dela Serna, who was named officer-in-charge in April last year, is also accused of illegally terminating 17 casual employees and deducting P2,200 from the 2017 collective negotiation agreement incentive of rank-and-file employees.

It was also reported that PhilHealth had an unaudited loss of nearly P9 billion last year.

Dela Serna has yet to issue to a statement regarding her dismissal although she had earlier asked for an audience with Duterte so she could explain her side. —RSJ/KG, GMA News