Senate panel seeks resignation of high-level PhilHealth execs, regional VPs

The Senate Committee of the Whole urged the top-level PhilHealth management down to the regional vice presidents to leave their posts after it concluded its investigation on alleged irregularities in PhilHealth.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, sponsoring the committee report, said the panel urges high ranking officials of PhilHealth "starting from the Chief Executive Officer to the Regional Vice Presidents" to file their courtesy resignations "to give the President of the Philippines a free hand to appoint new officials" to regain the public's trust on PhilHealth.

According to the panel, PhilHealth must implement a regular reassignment of its regional vice presidents to a different region every three years.

"No RVP should be reassigned to the same region more than twice in his or her entire tenure in PhilHealth," Sotto said.

Further, the committee also urged the Governance Commission for GOCCs to ensure that necessary skills and qualifications required for Appointive Directors to the PhilHealth are met before submitting its recommendations to the President.

Sotto added that the GCG must "take a proactive role in evaluating the performance of PhilHealth, its directors and officers, and discipline them, if necessary."

The committee also called on the agency to conduct a special audit of PhilHealth’s finances in the last five to 10 years.

Former PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, who has resigned from his post amid ongoing investigations and battle with lymphoma, was replaced by retired National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran.

PhilHealth senior vice president for legal sector Rodolfo Del Rosario Jr., also present during the previous Senate hearings, already tendered his irrevocable resignation, saying the "character assassination, trial by publicity, and relentless persecution" has left him in so much agony.

PhilHealth senior vice president Augustus De Villa has also resigned "out of delicadeza" prior to the two officials.

Six regional vice presidents, meanwhile, went on leave.

President Rodrigo Duterte also ordered the new PhilHealth chief to remove all regional vice presidents "whether performing at par or in parity with the other good ones" to eliminate the issue of familiarity.—LDF, GMA News