Duterte eyeing Dr. Jaime Cruz as next PhilHealth president

President Rodrigo Duterte is eyeing a certain Dr. Jaime Cruz as the next president of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Senator-elect Christopher “Bong” Go said on Tuesday.

Cruz has yet to accept the President’s offer.

Created in 1995 as a tax-exempt state corporation attached to the Department of Health, PhilHealth was mandated to implement affordable, acceptable, available and accessible health care services for all Filipinos.

Duterte asked for the courtesy resignations of top PhilHealth officials, including acting president Dr. Roy Ferrer, due to the scandalous ghost dialysis treatments with patients who were supposedly dead.

Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo also said Cruz, a private practitioner, has been asked by the President to join the PhilHealth management.

Secondary officials will run PhilHealth while its top executives are placed under investigation in connection with allegations of misuse of health insurance funds.

"They know the operations. There is an investigation, puwede naman pagsabayin,” Panelo said at a news conference.

The board members of PhilHealth expressed their gratitude towards the President, during their meeting in Malacañang, for giving them the opportunity to serve the public, the Palace official said.

“In fact, they thanked the President for giving them the opportunity to serve. And they also appreciate the fact that the resignation is based not on the fact that the President mistrust them but because he wants a clean slate, he wants a full investigation,” he added.

The President raised the possibility of reappointing any of the PhilHealth board members or giving them other positions in government, Panelo noted.

“The President, siyempre, is tentative kasi wala pa ‘yung report ng NBI,” the Palace spokesman said.

Duterte ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a full-scale investigation on alleged irregularities concerning the past practices of PhilHealth. —VDS, GMA News