MANILA (UPDATE) — Health Secretary Ted Herbosa on Tuesday said he has created an investigating committee to look into potential negligence by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. officials in the cyberattack that exposed the data of millions of PhilHealth members.

• PhilHealth officials deny allegations of ‘incompetence, negligence, ineffective leadership’ following reassignment order from Herbosa

Herbosa, chair of the PhilHealth board, said they want to find out if there was gross negligence that led to the Medusa ransomware attack.

"An investigation has to happen, due process, the usual. These are government people. Kailangan may due process," he said in a chance interview with Palace reporters.

"I think part of the problem was the antivirus was not updated and plus they cited many other instances in the past — the delayed publication for the dialysis, et cetera," he said during a Palace briefing.

PhilHealth had attributed the delay in renewing antivirus software to new government procurement rules.

The DOH chief added that the transfer of the members of the executive committee due to their "observed incompetence, gross negligence, and ineffective leadership," was still on hold.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) earlier approved Herbosa's request after the PhilHealth board allegedly expressed “loss of confidence” in eight of its ExeCom members.

• PhilHealth officials deny allegations of ‘incompetence, negligence, ineffective leadership’ following reassignment order from Herbosa
• Comelec approves transfer of 'incompetent' PhilHealth officials

Among those facing reassignment are Chief Operating Officer Eli Dino Santos, Assistant Senior Vice President Nerissa Santiago and senior vice presidents Jovita Aragona, Renato Limsiaco, Jose Mari Tolentino, Dennis Mas and Israel Francis Pargas.

They have denied allegations raised against them.

PhilHealth's President and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma, whose office would implement the order, asked for more time to clarify the legalities of the transfer with the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG).

"So, as of now, it’s actually for implementation... [but] the board agreed to the request of the President and CEO to actually wait for the comment by the GCG – Governance Commission," he said.

Herbosa also said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held several meetings on the hacking of PhilHealth's system and on other cybersecurity incidents at other government agencies.

"Hindi lang naman PhilHealth. PhilHealth was the start and then suddenly several government agencies had the hacking," he added.

CRISIS COMMITTEE FORMED

PhilHealth was also ordered to create a crisis committee, said Herbosa.

“Ang order ng board sa management is to create a crisis committee to make sure they follow and inform all members whose data privacy has been breached,” Herbosa said.

“They have to inform all of them that your data has been breached and you have to change your passwords and everything,” he said.

The PhilHealth board has also voted to elect a new set of executive committee members following the hacking incident that has compromised the data of several members and employees, Herbosa said, noting that the board was displeased to discover that even the agency’s anti-virus was “not updated.”

The election of the new committee officials would have to wait as the appointment of new government execs is on hold due to the election ban for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls, he said.

— with a report from Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

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