President Rodrigo Duterte “agrees” with a proposal to designate the finance secretary as ex-officio chairperson of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) instead of the health secretary, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Wednesday night, September 16.

“I just talked to PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte), he agrees!” Sotto said as he retweeted a copy of a bill he filed proposing amendments to the Universal Health Care Act of 2018.

Duterte met with several lawmakers, including Sotto, on Wednesday.

Senate Bill No. 1829, filed by Sotto on Monday, September 14, replaces the health secretary with the finance secretary as ex-officio chairperson of the PhilHeath board of directors.

“Since one of PhilHealth’s critical mandates is to have a suitable fund management to ensure the continuous delivery of healthcare services, it is deemed proper and appropriate by this representation that the chairman of the board should be the secretary of finance and not the secretary of health,” Sotto said in the bill’s explanatory note.

On Thursday, September 17, Sotto gave more details of his conversation with Duterte.

“He said he wanted PhilHealth abolished or privatized but I said it might be better to wait a few months and see how the new [PhilHealth] administration performs, and that I have a bill making the secretary of finance the chair of the board instead of the Department of Health secretary. He agreed to my proposal,” Sotto told reporters in a message.

The secretary of finance is currently Carlos Dominguez III. The secretary of health and concurrent PhilHealth chairperson is Francisco Duque III.

The following day, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte gave Gierran until December to cleanse PhilHealth of corruption. If he fails, the President would seriously consider abolishing or privatizing the state insurer.

“The President wants to clean up PhilHealth and that is why the deadline given to Atty Gierran is to clean up the organization, file all the cases that need to be filed, suspend or terminate, whatever you need to do,” said Roque on Thursday.

Sotto said Duque’s name was not mentioned during his conversation with the President.

“I was ready to talk about it but he did not bring the name up,” Sotto said.

Duque has faced tough criticism from senators, including Sotto, for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the alleged massive corruption in PhilHealth under his watch.

Sotto led the Senate in investigating the PhilHealth mess, and later recommended criminal complaints against Duque and several other PhilHealth executives. Sotto said Duque’s negligence, at the very least, allowed for fraud and other irregularities that bled the state insurer billions of pesos.

Sotto was also among more than a dozen senators who, in April, urged Duque to resign as local COVID-19 cases began to spike. The Senate reiterated this call for Duque’s resignation in their official report based on their PhilHealth probe.

During one of the Senate’s discussions on the PhilHealth mess, Sotto mentioned replacing the health chief – Duque – with the finance secretary, hoping it would result in better management of the state insurer’s funds.

The finance secretary is, by virtue of the position, already part of the PhilHeath board of directors, along with the secretaries of health, social welfare, labor and employment, and budget and management.

Before this, Duterte has consistently stood by Duque amid calls for his removal or resignation. “I have full trust in you,” the President told the health secretary on September 7.

Sotto’s bill will require passage and ratification by the Senate and House of Representatives before it is submitted to Duterte for his approval.

Duterte also wants further amendments to the Anti-Red Tape Law and the Ease of Doing Business Law, and he is “willing to be summoned if needed,” Sotto said. The senator told the President he would first send a copy of a bill Congress would come up with, before filing it. 

In separate statements, both Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said on Thursday that the lower chamber is ready to expedite the passage of bills that would cut red tape and curb corruption in the country. 

Cayetano said Duterte’s anger against red tape had been “palpable” during their meeting. 

“The President was very clear – the enemy in this time of pandemic is not just the virus, there is also the heartless bureaucracy that has made life unbearable for many of our kababayans (countrymen). Decades of mismanagement have bred inefficiency, corruption, and graft in a system that is meant to serve the public,” the Speaker said. 

Romualdez also said the House leadership is meeting with other ranking lawmakers soon to identify what specific bills addressing red tape and corrupt activities in government would be prioritized by the lower chamber.

“The leaders of the House of Representatives are in full agreement with President Duterte. We are ready to comply to with his orders to prioritize the passage of legislative measures that would cut red tape and corruption,” Romualdez said. – with reports from Pia Ranada and Mara Cepeda/Rappler.com