MANILA—The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed Monday evening the resignation of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) interim president and CEO Hildegardes C. Dineros from his post.
“He (Dineros) resigned,” Health Secretary Dr. Paulyn Ubial said in a text message.
As a replacement to his post, Ubial said that members of the PhilHealth Board then voted for Dr. Celestina Dela Serna as Interim PCEO during the board meeting.
Dela Serna is one of the Board Members from the Overseas Filipino Workers sector.
The resignation of Dineros was also confirmed by Dr. Israel Francis Pargas, senior manager at PhilHealth’s Corporate Communication Department.
Meanwhile, insiders from PhilHealth who refused to reveal their names said that the resignation apparently surfaced due to power struggle between Dineros and Ubial for some aspects of PhilHealth operations.
However, the ‘feud’ was earlier denied by the Health Secretary citing that such was just a matter of misunderstanding.
The Health chief also denied that the Board ousted Dineros and the decision came from Dineros himself.
“We did not oust him, he resigned,” the Health official said.
She also said that Dineros was among the members of the PhilHealth Board who voted for Dela Serna as his replacement during an emergency meeting.