Privatizing PhilHealth will only send a “wrong signal” to the people that the government cannot handle its affairs, the new chief of the state insurer said during the joint hearing of the House committees on public accounts and good governance and public accountability.
PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran did not agree with lawmakers’ recommendations, and even from President Rodrigo Duterte, to privatize the state health insurer due to the corruption allegations it is facing.
“We respect the wisdom of the President, pero kung i-privatize po, ano ang mangyayari sa ating mga miyembro?” said Gierran, the newly-appointed chief of PhilHealth.
“Are we telling the people of the Philippines, the world, that only people in the private sector can work well, na hindi tayo marunong magtrabaho ng tama? It will send a wrong signal that people in the government cannot be trusted,” he added.
[We respect the wisdom of the President, but if we will privatize, what will happen to our members? Are we telling the world that only people in the private sector can work well, that public officials do not know how to get the job done? It will send a wrong signal that people in the government cannot be trusted.]
Duterte previously floated the idea of either abolishing or privatizing the PhilHealth, but said he will first attempt to reorganize the agency by deeming all its personnel resigned.
Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay, from the Task Force PhilHealth, said they also did not go as far as recommending that PhilHealth be abolished.
“The report was more of recommending reforms in the process of PhilHealth. We would not have gone as far as saying that we do not need PhilHealth,” Sugay said.
