Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) chief Dante Gierran admitted he knows nothing about the operations of the embattled Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which President Rodrigo Duterte asked him to lead.

Gierran, a lawyer and accountant, also hardly knows anything about public health.

“I’m scared because I don’t know the operations of PhilHealth,” Gierran told ANC’s Headstart on Tuesday, September 1, adding this is unlike his experience at the NBI where he worked for 27 years. “I don’t know about public health. I don’t know about that.”

What he knows, according to Gierran, is financial management, the law, insurance, and investigation. His nomination comes days after PhilHealth workers appealed to Duterte to stop appointing unqualified people to run the state health insurer.

Fe Francisco, president of a PhilHealth workers’ group, said in a DZMM interview on Tuesday that they were disappointed “because it seemed that our appeal to appoint an expert was not considered.”

Gierran, who retired from the NBI in February, still needs to be elected by the PhilHealth board before he is able to assume the role of CEO and president.

According to the Section 14 of the Universal Healthcare Law, the PhilHealth board shall not recommend a president and CEO of the state insurer unless he or she is a Filipino citizen, and unless he or she has “at least 7 years of experience in the field of public health, management, finance, and health economics, or a combination of any of these expertise.”

Gierran takes the place of former PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, a retired general, who resigned on August 26. Duterte earlier relieved Morales from office for health reasons, as he is battling cancer. (READ: CHEAT SHEET: Alleged PhilHealth anomalies uncovered in Congress probes)

Lawmakers are investigating PhilHealth for alleged corruption as whistleblowers say some P15 billion ($309.6 million) in funds were pocketed by its executives. The PhilHealth anomalies have fueled anger against the Duterte government at a time when the Philippines has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia

‘Give me a chance’

Despite lacking experience in public health, however, Gierran appealed to Filipinos, “Give me a chance to lead.”

“Don’t judge me because I don’t have 7 years of experience on this and that, and public health. If I can’t do my job, I will tell my principal,” Gierran said.

Asked for his initial plans, Gierran said he would create his own management committee and reorganize the state health insurer.

Aside from this, Gierran said he would look into the financial condition of PhilHealth after claims that it would “collapse” by 2022. (READ: With looming deficit, PhilHealth to ‘collapse’ by 2022)

“I would like to succeed. I am scared but I’m not cowed,” Gierran said.

Gierran left his position at the NBI last February upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65.

Gierran’s stint at the NBI was not without controversy, as Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed former member of the Davao Death Squad, had linked the official to the killing of a man in 2007 who was “fed to crocodiles.”

Gierran denied the claims.

In 2018, Gierran defended the NBI’s flip-flopping on the cyber libel complaint against Rappler. Initial information showed the complaint had been dismissed by the NBI, but Gierran claimed “there was no reversal.”

The NBI forwarded the complaint to the justice department, which recommended the filing of a case against Rappler. A regional trial court has since convicted Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr of cyber libel. – Rappler.com