Lacson: Emergency powers for Duterte to ‘cleanse’ PhilHealth not necessary

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte does not need emergency powers to “cleanse” the embattled Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) of scalawags as he has government agencies at his disposal.

A House committee earlier sought emergency powers for Duterte to address the multi-billion peso corruption controversy hounding the state health insurer. 

“Since PhilHealth is a creation of a law passed by Congress, the President has no statutory power to reorganize the agency so he actually needs an act of Congress to delegate to him such power or authority,” Lacson told reporters.

“Having said that… the chief executive may not need that delegated authority anymore if the intention is to cleanse PhilHealth of scalawags and misfits as he has the PNP, NBI, DOJ and other instrumentalities of government at his disposal. It only takes a strong political will to accomplish the task,” he added.

The senator said Duterte can start cleansing PhilHealth by firing its ex-officio chairman Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

“He should replace Secretary Duque as Health secretary and ex-officio chairman of PhilHealth with somebody who is endowed even with little above average leadership traits, competence, honesty and integrity,” Lacson said.

Malacañang earlier said it would look into the proposal to grant emergency powers to Duterte.  — BM, GMA News