CSC head denies claims she ordered information hidden from legislators

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) head denied on Friday that she had suppressed information regarding irregularities done by officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

In a statement released on Friday, CSC Chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala dismissed the claims made by CSC Commissioner Aileen A. Lizada who said the commission had made a directive barring the release of data on CSC cases against officials of the state insurer.

“I am categorically stating that as the CSC Chairperson, I made no directive, guidance or insinuations for the Commission to suppress information in any case, whether on Philhealth or on any other government agency,” Ms. Dela Rosa-Bala said.

Ms. Dela Rosa-Bala has repeatedly denied the allegations since Ms. Lizada first said on Tuesday that the chief of the CSC had given “guidance” to withhold details of pending administrative cases of Philhealth officials from lawmakers. Ms. Lizada had made the claim at the joint hybrid hearing of the House committee on public accounts and the committee on good government and public accountability which is investigating PhilHealth’s alleged anomalies.

The CSC Chairman said that the cases of the officials before the CSC were not over issues of corruption.

“The pending cases before the Commission are mostly administrative cases involving personnel actions, which are non-disciplinary in nature. CSC does not handle criminal cases involving graft and corruption,” she said. — Gillian M. Cortez