Congress mulls PhilHealth as unit under the Office of the President

ALBAY Rep. Joey Salceda on Sunday said the proposal to transfer the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. from the Department of Health (DOH) to the Office of the President to increase the agency’s efficiency “is just a start and we in Congress need to work on more thorough reforms to the system.”

“It’s a good first step. It’s the first step to improving financial governance and investment management. It will ensure that the management is more holistic and whole-of-government. The PhilHealth is a social insurance agency first and foremost, (and) not a hospital,” he said.

“And President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, can certainly do that even if the chairperson remains the Secretary of Health. The PhilHealth Board is interagency and purely within the executive.

The Administrative Code allows him to

‘transfer agencies to the Office of the President from other departments or agencies. That’s Chapter 10, Section 31,” he added. The transfer of the agency to the Office of the President “is a welcome first patch, but we need to solve its underlying institutional issues,” he noted.

“I really think it’s will be better man aged as part of the family of social pro tection agencies under the secretary of finance. But unfortunately, I don’t think he can transfer agencies from one department to another. Just from one department to his office proper,” he said.

“Of course, the President consults the secretary of finance, and I suppose placing it under the Office of the President can help mediate both finance and health concerns, and ensure both of them are considered,” he noted.

Rio N. Araja

their family.

“Through the responses for humanitarian assistance, you have created a ripple of hope in communities, increased our people’s trust in the military and in the government,” the President said.

Founded by former President and then-Captain Fidel Valdez-Ramos back in 1962, the SFR(A) is an elite Army unit trained in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, as well as community relations and other unconventional warfare operations. It continues to train with its Western counterpart, the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets), which the SFR-A was based on. The most recent training of the two elite units was held in February last year.