President Duterte has vast powers under the Constitution and existing laws powers and, therefore, does not need emergency powers to solve the problems hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Senators stressed this Thursday as they rejected the proposal of administration congressmen to grant President Duterte emergency powers to enable him to implement reforms at PhilHealth.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the President has sufficient power to reform and reorganize government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) as stipulated under the GOCC Governance Act or Republic Act 10149.

“There is no use for emergency powers. We will oppose it in the Senate. The President can reform and reorganize PhilHealth without emergency powers from Congress,” Drilon said.

“The President has vast power under the Constitution and existing laws to reorganize and solve corruption in PhilHealth. He appoints the members of the Board. He can file administrative and criminal cases against erring and corrupt officials. He can order the suspension or transfer of personnel in the entire executive,” added Drilon.

At this point, Drilon said the GCG should exercise its mandate under the GOCC law. Under the law, the GCG has the power to “evaluate the performance and determine the relevance of the GOCC, to ascertain whether such GOCC should be reorganized, merged, streamlined, abolished, or privatized.”

The GCG may also recommend to the President the abolition or privatization of the GOCC and upon approval of the President, implement such abolition or privatization.

“Congress has already delegated to the President, by virtue of RA 10149, the power to reorganize PhilHealth,” the Senate Minority Leader explained.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III agreed with Drilon’s explanation, saying he too believes the President can initiate reforms in PhilHealth without the need of any emergency powers.

“I don’t know what is incorporated or included in their (House) proposal to give the President emergency powers…because as far as we are concerned, most of us in the Senate is concerned. We know that in this part of the globe, the President of the Philippines is the most powerful president,” Sotto pointed out in an interview over CNN Philippines.

“So anything that they would want the President to do he can do now, even without the emergency powers, that is what we believe,” the Senate leader stressed.

Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, for his part, said he is skeptical over the House’s proposal, saying the President had already been given the emergency powers to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic and yet there were no good outcomes.

“Wala sa emergency powers ang solution. Kung seryoso talaga silang ayusin ang PhilHealth at pagtugon sa COVID, sibakin si Duque at sampahan ng kaso ang mga nasa likod ng overpricing ng test kits, testing machines at ng bilyong binulsa sa PhilHealth ng Mindanao mafia. Yan ang solution hindi (If they are serious about fixing PhilHealth and solving the COVID problem, they should pursue the removal of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and file criminal cases against those behind the overpricing of test kits, testing machines and the billions of funds pocketed by the PhilHealth Mindanao mafia. That’s the solution, not) emergency powers,” Pangilinan said when also sought to comment.