PACC PR
The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) expressed its support to the appointment of former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Dante A. Gierran as the new president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
In his latest address to the public last Aug. 31, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte announced his appointment of Gierran during his meeting with the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the appointment, Gierran replaces Ricardo Morales, who resigned last week due to his medical condition, and in the midst of intensive investigations by Task Force PhilHealth, led by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and by both Houses of Congress on allegations rampant fraud and corruption in the agency.
Gierran, who is reportedly the first-ever certified public accountant-lawyer to become NBI director, served as NBI chief in 2016 until his retirement last February and was replaced by Eric Distor who was named officer-in-charge of the NBI.
The new PhilHealth president assumes his post with the President’s marching orders to shuffle the officials within the state-run insurance firm to get rid of corruption.
PACC chairman Dante La. Jimenez welcomed Gierran’s appointment, saying that the former NBI chief comes in at a critical moment when the integrity of the government’s national agencies is being put in question. ”Atty. Gierran, being an accountant himself, remained clean as a public servant, even as he professionalized his men and women while he was NBI director,” Jimenez said. He added that Gierran had been a recipient of various awards, including recognition from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), of which Jimenez is the founding chairman.
”We will need all the muscle to fight these formidable ‘viruses’ in the forms of crime, corruption and illegal drugs, which still persist and continue to victimize our people, especially the poor,” Jimenez said. He added that time is of the essence, as the government needs to make the most of the remaining two years after the President’s term ends in 2022.
Jimenez warned that government agencies should now close ranks if the National Government aims to win the war against lawlessness and corruption amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “With lesser resources due to this crisis, the fight has become more difficult. We need everyone’s total commitment and cooperation in the ‘whole-of-nation’ approach in fulfilling the Duterte Administration’s program of change in the country,” he said.
