PHILIPPINES, August 12 - Press Release
August 12, 2025

TRANSCRIPT OF PSC'S INTERPELLATION OF SEN. JV'S PRIVILEGE SPEECH ON PHILHEALTH
August 11, 2025

Thank you Mr. President. With the indulgence of Sen. JV, I'd like to make some comments and observations and perhaps ask His Honor his thoughts on some issues on this matter."

So Mr. President, I was listening to the debates earlier and noted that there were concerns on the P1,700 budget for the Konsulta program, which apparently is now called YAKAP. I'd like to explain because I think it's important for all of us who will be weighing in on these issues, who will of course be supporting anything that we can do to strengthen PhilHealth, to understand how this works.

First of all, the P1,700 per person is based on a risk-sharing scheme. So what is required here is that a certain population, and I'll give an example, Taguig City, everyone in that population would have a budget of P1,700. So like any insurance na risk-sharing, hindi naman lahat ho yan magakakasakit. Kunyari yung 1,700, ang population mo is 1,000 na lang para madali yung mathematics natin. That's 1.7 million pesos. Yung 1,000 na yan hindi lahat yan magkakasakit. Baka may pumasok doon, nadapa, band aid lang ang gastos natin. Alcohol. Ano bang uso satin sa sugat? Merthiolate pa ba? Betadine na! Yun lang ang gastos, diba? Tapos siguro yung iba doon, sumakit ang tiyan, binigyan ng sampung tablet for three days consumption, diba? So anlayo nun sa P1,700.

And that's why, dear colleagues, that amount is based on, I believe that's based on actuarial, assuming tama yung pagkagawa nila, na sa P1,700 na yung buong population nagko-contribute ng ganoon, magkakasya. In fact, there is a study by Dr. Tony Danz and his team. I don't have it in front of me. But the amount is actually P300 only, sa Samal Island.

So in Samal Island, the budget is P300 per person, and it worked. So that is what we have to understand when we have this discussion, it is a risk-sharing basis. I will not go into details but that is the reason where this figure is about. Kasi nga pag inisip mo, P1,700 pano nagkasya yon? Kasi nga pinu-pool yon, so most likely yung nagkasakit ng malalim baka ang gastos niya doon is 1,700 times 100 people. The rest of the 100 wala silang ginastos, they didn't even have to go to the doctor's office, similar to how an HMO works. Maliit lang ho ginagastos natin.

Tanong ko sa mga Senador, sino nagpatingin sa HMO? Wala. So nagagamit ngayon yan ng staff natin. Kung tayo naman ang nagkasakit-sana hindi magkasakit yung staff natin kasi kino-compute nila yon to ensure na yung pondo na yan, mabuo pa din.

I then move on. But what happened was hindi rin ito maintindihan ng mga providers. The providers were very reluctant to sign up as a provider kasi nga "Ha? P1,700, paano yan magawork sa amin?" So ang ginawa ng DOH to entice them, they removed certain medicines that are high-cost and created another fund that will cover this. So for example with cancer screening, there is a different package altogether, para nga ganahan itong mga service providers na mag sign up kasi nga natatakot sila, na pano kung ang pumunta dito, diagnosis namin initial, "eh parang kelangan ng cancer screening," eh ang mahal ng cancer screening. So DOH had to create another package. Anyway, I won't go into details, but ganoon ang nangyari. There is now another fund, which is P20,000 per person, for medicines, na labas pa doon.

Maybe later on when people understand the system more, we can innovate. But for now I think it's a good start. So yun lang Mr. President, does the good senator agree? Mas alam naman niya ito. Sa dami naman nag-interpellate sa kanya, I just wanted to share that information and if he agrees with me then I can just move on to my next point. Dalawa lang naman yung points ko.

Thank you, thank you. I know naman we're on the same page with the former Chairman of the Committee on Health.

And then along this line Mr. President, I also want to share that when I became a Senator in 2004, I handled the Committee on Health, but I did not handle the budget of Health. So ako yung nag iinterpellate doon sa humahawak ng budget ng health. And ang tanong ko at that time was how come practically non-existent ang budget natin for preventive health? So this is 2004, 21 years ago, ganoon ko na katagal inaawitan ang DOH to have more funding for preventive health, kasi lahat ng pinag uusapan natin, can you imagine dear colleagues, kung nababawasan ba ng kahit kalahati ang mga kailangan pumunta sa ospital dahil katulad ni Sen. JV e nagba-bike. Sino pa ba pwede ko? Sen. Sherwin na tumatakbo, Sen. Joel na nagba-basketball, kaya lang gumastos para sa tuhod niya. Yan lang. But basically when you engage in preventive healthcare which is exercise, proper nutrition, avoiding mga vices-alcohol, cigarettes, vapes-then you will not have to go to the hospital that much. Tama naman ho ako, does his honor agree with me?

And the chances of getting better is also slimmer, diba? Imagine if habang bata ka pa lang, lahat na to naavoid mo mga sakit na to. Nadetect ka nang maaga. Because of your healthy living hindi natuloy yung what you would otherwise be exposed to. It really goes a long way. And that's why congratulations to His Honor kasi when we passed this law, nandoon na sa Konsulta na talagang by law we are required to provide for it. So I just wanted to emphasize that, that is the objective now of having this outpatient support system. Na wag ka na sana muna maging-I don't wanna call it outpatient, I want to call it before you become a patient. Because we want people to embrace this healthy lifestyle. In fact there's this HMO in the US. Maybe it's common, I don't know. I just know of one HMO, Kaiser Permanente. I only know of it because my friend works there. Kinikwento nila sa akin na pag nag-join ka ng gym, pag nag-join ka ng mga activities that are considered good for your health, di ko alam kung yung premium mo yung binabawasan or something pero may reward ka eh. Something like that. Because the model of Kaiser Permanente is they own the hospital. So if they don't take care of you before you get sick, sila din ang gagastos pag nagkasakit ka. Kaya incentive nila din sa kanilang sarili na bumaba yung gastos nila is bago pa ka palang magkasakit habang bata ka pa lang they want you to be healthy. So natuwa ko sa model na yun. Sana may creative thinkers tayo na makapag-isip ng ganoon. How do you incentivize?

But I think that's the nature of the Konsulta, now Yakap package, kasi kung incentivized si mayor, kung si mayor ang gagastos nitong Yakap or a portion of it, so ang laki ng gastos niya for people to stay healthy, then mas konti din ang ilalabas niya para (sa) ma-hospital. And I know there are a lot of proactive cities like this, siyempre iyayabang ko yung Taguig City, na not just medication for diabetes pero meron na silang jogging club, walking club, and then they share tips on healthy eating para nga makaiwas don sa puntos na lahat na ang sakit na connected sa diabetes e naglabasan na. So yun talaga yung comorbidities, yun pala yung tawag doon.

I'll just jump to my next point Mr. President, I believe our colleague Senator Lacson mentioned the failure of government to turnover the earmarked sin tax, and I agree with that 100%. I was an author of the law that required the earmarking. Fina-follow-up ko yun, I even remember when our now Senate President was chairman of the Committee on Finance many years ago, decades ago, I don't know kung 2009, 2011 ba yun, nag-compute pa ako, pinakita ko sa kanya na this is what is owing to DOH kasi by law itong earmark na ito should be delivered.

So at present Mr. President, ang earmarked for 2023 na sin tax should be P83.9 billion. Ang pumasok sa GAA is P79.06 billion. For 2024 it's P79.01 billion, ang pumasok sa GAA, as budget of PhilHealth, is P40.28 billion. And for 2025, P69.81 Billion for sin tax collection, ang pumasok sa GAA is P0. So kulang lahat ito. So there is a pending case right now in the Supreme Court, I think filed by doctors. I'm letting our colleagues know that I'm going to file as an intervenor to be part of this case because this is my law. I consider this personal to me. Na kaya natin inearmark yon dahil nga yung mga bisyo na nakakasama sa tao, sana man lang may nakukuha doon pambayad sa gamot nila. Tapos hindi natin nakukuha. So I am just reviewing my pleadings. If the good senator would like to join me or any of our colleagues, do let me know. I'm just an intervenor kasi meron akong nag-file ng kaso nito. Yun lang naman po, for the information of our colleagues and the good senator from San Juan. Thank you very much.

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