{"id":266659,"date":"2020-08-27T03:54:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T07:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=266659"},"modified":"2020-08-27T03:54:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T07:54:44","slug":"resigned-philhealth-execs-not-yet-off-the-hook-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/27\/resigned-philhealth-execs-not-yet-off-the-hook-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Resigned PhilHealth execs not yet off the hook: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cThe law is very clear. If there is criminal liability incurred when you are in office, it subsists and public officers can be held liable for them, whether or not they continue to be in office,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press briefing. (File photo: Presidential Photo via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The resignation of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) officials will not shield them from possible charges, in case probe results find them liable for the supposed widespread corruption within the state insurer, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

This, after PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales, as well as PhilHealth senior vice president for legal sector Rodolfo del Rosario Jr., quit their respective posts amid controversies hounding the government-run insurance firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law is very clear. If there is criminal liability incurred when you are in office, it subsists and public officers can be held liable for them, whether or not they continue to be in office,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press briefing.<\/p>\n

Morales, who admitted to have been diagnosed with lymphoma or cancer of the lymph nodes, submitted his resignation on Wednesday upon President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s advice to allow the embattled PhilHealth chief to focus on his health first.<\/p>\n

Morales\u2019 resignation was followed by Del Rosario\u2019s decision to also step down from office.<\/p>\n

Several officials are being accused of being members of the so-called PhilHealth \u201cmafia\u201d that is allegedly manipulating the state insurer\u2019s financial records.<\/p>\n

Roque confirmed that Duterte had already accepted Morales\u2019 resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the President has always been of the opinion that health should come first. Kaya nga po (That\u2019s why) he is hoping that the resignation of General Morales will lead to the recovery of General Morales from his current ailment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Careful\u2019 in appointing new PhilHealth chief<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following Morales\u2019 resignation, board members of the state health insurer have designated PhilHealth executive vice president Arnel de Jesus as the agency\u2019s officer-in-charge.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte is already scouting for a new PhilHealth chief who must be \u201ccorrupt-free\u201d and has \u201cmanagerial skills\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said there are \u201cnames\u201d that are being considered by Duterte.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, stressed that Duterte is being \u201ccareful\u201d in appointing the new head of PhilHealth because the President wants someone who can help him rid the agency of corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cPinipili po ni Pangulo kung sino po ang meron talagang kwalipikasyon para maibangon muli ang PhilHealth. Kumbaga dahil inaamin naman ni Presidente na talagang ang PhilHealth needs his personal attention (The President is eyeing someone who has the qualification that can save PhilHealth. The President admitted that PhilHealth needs his personal attention),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Possible PhilHealth revamp<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque also raised the possibility that Duterte might order a revamp of PhilHealth in an effort to curb corruption within the state corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIyan po ay isang possibility (That\u2019s a possibility),\u201d he said, when quizzed if Duterte might reorganize PhilHealth.<\/p>\n

Roque\u2019s statement came amid ongoing investigations into the supposed massive corruption involving PhilHealth officials and personnel.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, said reorganizing PhilHealth should be in compliance with the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reorganization cannot also violate the law. So, it has to comply with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On August 19, Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo filed House Bill (HB) 7429 or the proposed Social Health Insurance Crisis Act, which allows the President to revamp the executive leadership of PhilHealth by privatizing any or all segments of the agency, if necessary, to make it more effective to address the social health insurance crisis.<\/p>\n

Under HB 7429, the President can abolish or create offices, transfer functions, institute drastic cost-cutting, and take other measures to reorganize PhilHealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The resignation of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) officials will not shield them from possible charges, in case …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266661,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266659\/revisions\/266661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}