MANILA, Philippines — Before resorting to emergency powers to address issues hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), a strong political will is needed starting with the sacking of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Senator Panfilo Lacson said. “Emergency powers to reorganize PhilHealth? Try real, honest-to-goodness, strong political will first. For a start, fire its ex-officio chairman,” Lacson said in a tweet Friday. The Senate committee, which embarked on the PhilHealth investigation, even recommended the filing of criminal charges against the health secretary and several others over the allegedly questionable release of billions of funds under the agency’s emergency cash advance measure.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 04, 2020 00:22 UTC