RETIRED NBI chief Dante Gierran, newly-appointed president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), yesterday said he is scared of his new designation because he is clueless as to how the government-owned and -controlled corporation operates.
In a TV interview, Gierran said his new post is unlike the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which he headed for four years.
“I know the gargantuan job that I have to take on with being appointed as the new chief of PhilHealth. I’m a little bit scared,” said Gierran.
“I’m scared because I do not know the operations of PhilHealth. The operation of PhilHealth to me is unlike in the NBI. I have been in the NBI when I was appointed director. I had been with the NBI for 27 years. I know a lot of people there. I know the secrets there. I know the operations. But at PhilHealth, I do not know what is public health,” he said.
Gierran said he was not even expecting to be appointed to the agency which is subject of allegations of graft, and he did not apply for the position.
“I have been inactive for six months. I never thought that I would be appointed for the position,” he said.
Still, the former NBI director said being scared does not mean that he would not be an effective PhilHealth chief.
“Give me a chance to lead. Don’t judge me. After all, if I can’t do my job, I’ll tell my principal that I can’t do my job,” he said.
“I would like to succeed. I’m scared but I’m not cowed,” Gierran added.
He said that while he is clueless on public health, he has other qualifications.
“I don’t have experience about public health. What I have knowledge of is financial management being a certified public accountant, and about law, about insurance, and, of course, my knowledge about investigation,” he said.
On Monday night, President Duterte announced the appointment of Gierran as the new PhilHealth president and CEO to succeed Ricardo Morales, who resigned last week for medical reasons.
Gierran said that as soon as his appointment is made official, his priority is to check on the financial condition of PhilHealth.
“I will examine the financial statements because there were allegations in the past that PhilHealth will not survive. So, I have to know how much money PhilHealth has at the moment,” he said.
Gierran said he also intends to win back the trust and confidence of the general public.
“Please give PhilHealth a chance. My job is to restore the confidence, the trust of the people in the government. It has to start with the people,” he said.
To be able to do so, he said he intends to consult Morales to secure inside information on PhilHealth operations “so that I will be guided.”
RESHUFFLE
Gierran said he is considering implementing a reshuffle within the state-run health insurer as ordered by President Duterte.
“One thing is I will create my own management committee for a start,” he said.
The order was issued on Monday night during Duterte’s weekly “Talk to the People” address.
Duterte said the key officials should be reshuffled regardless of their performance in their current posts.
He also said he told Gierran that he is devoting his last two years in office fighting corruption and directed him to find people that can be sent to prison.
He said the Department of Justice-led task force is already winding down its investigations into PhilHealth anomalies, and “has seen proof enough to come up with an indictment.”
He said he wants all regional vice presidents of the agency removed from their post regardless if they are “performing, at par, or in parity with the other good ones.”
“You know, if they are there for so long a time, the element of familiarity always enters the picture,” he added.
The President said he chose Gierran who is an accountant, a lawyer and an experienced investigator.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said apart from being an accountant, a lawyer, and a seasoned investigator, Gierran also has years of management experience, which qualifies him for the top PhilHealth post.
He added that since the alleged crimes in PhilHealth are “white-collared crimes,” Gierran is the best choice to lead the agency as he has no trace of controversy or corruption.
Gierran, who is reportedly a fraternity brother of the President at the Lex Talionis
Fraternitas, said he did not apply for the tough job but he would follow like a good soldier.
He headed NBI from 2016 to 2020 and was chief of the NBI in Davao for three years prior to that.
He joined NBI in 1990 and has been assigned to the agency’s different regional offices like in Davao City and Vigan.
PHILHEALTH UNION
The PhilHealth Workers for Hope, Integrity, Transparency, and Empowerment (WHITE) expressed disappointment over Gierran’s appointment.
PhilHealth-WHITE president Fe Francisco said employees are dismayed that Duterte did not heed their call for a financial expert to be tapped as head of the agency.
“We are dismayed. It appears that our call was not heeded to designate a financial expert to lead PhilHealth,” said Francisco.
Under the Universal Health Care Act, the president and CEO of PhilHealth must have at least seven years of experience in the field of public health, management, finance, and health economics, or a combination of any of the fields of expertise.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra backed Gierran’s appointment, saying his expertise will be of great help in reforming and cleansing the state health insurance firm.
Guevarra, head of the task force investigating the alleged anomalies in PhilHealth, said Gierran’s background makes him fit to head the agency.
“Former NBI Director Dante Gierran’s legal and accounting background, his well-known investigative skills, administrative abilities, and fiscal prudence makes him fit for the PhilHealth’s top position,” he said.
“It also equips him well to pursue the cleansing process and reformation at PhilHealth to their logical conclusion,” he added.
Gierran served as NBI chief from 2016 under the Duterte administration until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in February this year.The NBI is now headed by Eric Distor in an acting capacity.
PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTISE
Majority of the senators welcomed Gierran’s appointment but Sen Francis Pangilinan has a different view.
In a statement, Pangilinan said PhilHealth needs someone with “public health and financial expertise” and not on law enforcement to be able to solve the irregularities hounding the state health insurer.
“I have serious misgivings about the appointment given that we clearly need a more holistic rather than a simplistic law enforcement approach to the cancer confronting PhilHealth in particular and the COVID health crisis in general,” Pangilinan said.
“There is also a question regarding his qualifications considering his lack of experience in the field of public health that Malacañang chose to ignore. His predecessor, too, had no public health experience and that ended terribly for PhilHealth,” Pangilinan said.
Senate President pro tempore Ralph Recto said Gierran needs to have a strong backup force coming from the Philippine General Hospital, which has lots of health experts.
“If he wants to succeed, Gierran cannot be a one-man army. The work ahead is too tough and too big for a lone ranger. He needs to have strong backup, but they should not be the boys from Taft alone. Better to recruit alumni of NBI’s neighbor, the Philippine General Hospital.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said expressed hope Gierran will not be manipulated by parties inside and out of PhilHealth, who have caused the state insurer to lose billions to corruption.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Gierran is “a very good choice as PhilHealth chief.”
“Aside from a clean record, he has investigative skills that can crack the whip in ferreting out anomalies in the agency,” Sotto said.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said Gierran must effect a top-to-bottom reorganization in PhilHealth to “get rid of the corrupt and the incompetent.”
Sen. Christopher Go said he is optimistic that Gierran will be able to stop the deep-rooted systemic corruption that has been in PhilHealth.
SUBSIDY
At the House, Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor urged the new PhilHealth leadership under Gierran to ensure that the agency’s P71.3-billion taxpayer subsidy next year new will be used “judiciously” and to immediately scrap the “all case rates” system which he said is the “root of all evil and corruption in the agency.”
Defensor, who chairs the House committee on public accounts which is investigating fund irregularities in the state insurer, noted that aside from the annual subsidy, PhilHealth collects more than P100 billion a year in contributions from members.
“The subsidy is used mainly to cover non-contributory Filipinos like the poor, those without jobs and senior citizens. That is the mandate of the Universal Health Care Law,” Defensor said.
He also urged Gierran to scrap the all-case or package rates and the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) in the agency.
Defensor renewed his call for the state insurer to reimburse hospitals and other healthcare facilities of the “actual cost” of treatment and hospitalization of patients, and to set the case rates as “cost limits.”
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who chairs the House committee on ways and means, said what the public should watch out for “is the people he (Gierran) surrounds himself with.”
“If he surrounds himself with honest and competent staff and associates from public health, finance, and economics, he will do well,” he said. “The PhilHealth chief comes and goes, but the managers at the lower tiers stay, as do the structural issues. These are matters we should be vigilant about.”
MORE HEALTH BUDGET
While next year’s subsidy for PhilHealth is the same as this year’s P71.4-billion budgetary support for the state insurer, the budget for the Department of Health (DOH) will receive an increase of more than P27 billion, from P104 billion this year to P131.2 billion next year.
Defensor said P44.7 billion of the DOH outlay will go to health facilities, P27.7 billion to public health programs, P22.6 billion to health systems strengthening, and P17.3 billion to medical assistance to indigent patients.
He pointed out that two specialty hospitals, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the Philippine Heart Center, will both get an increase of about P400 million each, from P908 million to P1.3 billion and from P1.4 billion to P1.8 billion, respectively.
Defensor added that the Lung Center of the Philippines, a COVID-19 referral hospital, will suffer a slight budgetary cut of P12 million, from P417 million to P405 million, while the Philippine Children’s Medical Center will see its funds go down by P158 million, from P1.2 billion to P1.042 billion.
‘OVERSTATED CLAIMS’
Salceda called for a “system audit” of PhilHealth to focus on four areas for reform: reserve fund management, collections, claims and benefits, and governance.
The lawmaker, who is a former banker and top equities analyst, also disproved claims that PhilHealth is bound to lose P90 billion this year due to declining premiums and increasing claims.
While PhilHealth is definitely bound to lose money this year, he said its actuarial projections seems to be “overstated” because being in the red just by P5.99 billion for the first half of 2020 is “an acceptable loss given the circumstance.”
“If they are to lose P90 billion this year, that would mean they will face an P84 billion shortfall for the rest of the year. This is simply not happening, given their own financial history,” Salceda said, referring to claims made by PhilHealth executives during a Senate hearing on the health insurer’s finances.
If the P90 billion claim is correct, Salceda said the DOH will have to sustain a shortfall of P84 billion in the second half, which he said is “a loss never before seen in the health insurer’s entire corporate life.”
“The actuarial accuracy of this projection is at best, suspect,” Salceda said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor, Ashzel, Hachero, Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
