PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has appointed Dr. Edwin Mercado as the new secretary of the Department of Health (DOH), replacing Dr. Jose “Brix” Pujalte Jr., who stepped down from the post due to health reasons.
Mercado, who has been serving as acting president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), will now lead the country’s health department as it continues implementing programs under the Universal Health Care law.
He assumed leadership of PhilHealth in February 2025 and brings decades of experience in healthcare administration, hospital management, and health financing to his new role.
Before joining PhilHealth, Mercado served as medical director of the Daniel O. Mercado Medical Center from 1998 to 2000 before becoming president and chief executive officer of several hospitals from 2000 to 2016.
The former PhilHealth chief also worked as a consultant for the Asian Development Bank and the Zuellig Family Foundation and served on the Department of Health’s Strategic Advisory Group for Universal Health Care Implementation.
Mercado earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the Philippines Manila. He also holds a Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery from Harvard Medical School and a master’s degree in Hospital Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alongside Mercado’s appointment, Marcos named Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho as the new president and chief executive officer of PhilHealth.
Ho currently serves as chief health officer of Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. and previously held several senior positions at the Department of Health. She served as DOH undersecretary in 2022 and assistant secretary from January 2023 to January 2024. She was also the department’s deputy spokesperson from March 2020 to December 2023.
Her previous assignments included leading the DOH Health Promotion Bureau and the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, as well as serving as special assistant to the health secretary for universal health coverage.
Ho earned her medical degree from the University of the Philippines Manila, a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
She has received several distinctions, including the Leadership Award in Public Health Practice from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2024 and recognition as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardees in 2022.
The appointments place two healthcare professionals with extensive backgrounds in public health, hospital administration, and health policy at the helm of the country’s two key health institutions as the government continues to strengthen healthcare delivery and expand access to health services nationwide.
