President Rodrigo Duterte has named former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Dante Gierran as the new president of embattled state insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
Gierran’s appointment was announced during Duterte’s public address on Monday night.
Duterte said he had ordered Gierran to reshuffle regional PhilHealth offices in two to three days.
Gierran will replace Ricardo Morales who resigned last week to focus on his battle with lymphoma.
Gierran was the first-ever accountant-lawyer to be named NBI chief. He retired in February.
Before assuming the role of CEO and president, Gierran must be elected to the post by the PhilHealth board.
PhilHealth has been under investigation since its anti-fraud officer, Thorrsson Keith, revealed corrupt schemes in the state health insurance firm, through which members of the PhilHealth “mafia” had allegedly pocketed about P15 billion.
Last week, Duterte promised to dedicate his remaining two years in office to hold corrupt PhilHealth officials accountable.
Malacañang said PhilHealth officials who had resigned amid investigations would not be exempt from criminal liability should they be found liable. John Ezekiel J. Hirro