PHILIPPINES, November 12 - Press Release
November 12, 2024

Transcript of Sen. Pia Cayetano's statements
Plenary debates - DOH & attached agencies

Opening Statement

Mr. President, the total new appropriation of the Department of Health and its attached agencies and corporations under the Senate Committee Report is P277,995,747,000. The breakdown is as follows:

For the Department of Health - Office of the Secretary, P277,425,590,000
For the National Nutrition Council - P519,873,000
For the Philippine National AIDS Council - P50,284,000
For the Lung Center of the Philippines - P50,185,000
National Kidney and Transplant Institute - P1,986,886,000
For the Philippine Children's Medical Center - P1,774,216,000
For the Philippine Heart Center - P2,652,920,000
For the Philippine Institute for Traditional and Alternative Health Care - P176,726,000
For Philippine Health Insurance Corporation - P68,719,010,000

Furthermore, this representation would like to thank the Chairman, Sen. Grace Poe, for accepting our amendments. The Office of Secretary, the development of RITM's anti-venom production, and upgrading of their technology, equipment and facilities to boost production efforts, and the procurement of rabies vaccines to address the projected animal bites expected this year. For the Lung Center of the Philippines, in line with my tobacco control advocacy, the Smoking Cessation Program or the QUITLine, for the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the construction of phase 1 of the new 8-storey outpatient department (OPD) building. For the Philippine Children's Medical Center, the renovation of existing and construction of new PCMC buildings, and for the Philippine Heart Center, various programs like the training of advanced heart failure teams, subsidy of heart transplantation for charity patients, and the procurement of heart transplant equipment and mechanical circulatory support devices, replacing 10-year-old machines.

These are all part of our commitments to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into our national development plan and policies, specifically SDG 3, ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing at all ages.

Mr President, before we proceed with the interpellation, I would just like to point out that in 2012, we passed the Sin Tax Reform Act, RA 10351, and then again, another Sin Tax Law in 2020. These laws increased the excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and later on vapes. Just to give our colleagues an idea, when we started in 2014, the collection was P33.9 billion. In 2017, this was doubled. In 2018, it was P66.55 billion. In 2020, it was P93.57 billion. And in 2024, the collection so far is P184.5 billion. This is a lot of funding that has contributed to healthcare, Mr President. But today, we still see a lot of problems in the healthcare sector. Napakarami pa ring Pilipino ang nakapila, whether sa PCSO, sa PAGCOR, sa office ng mayor, ng governor, ng mga senador, at humihingi po ng mga guarantee letter, ng pondo para sa kanilang pangangailangan kapag sila po ay naospital, sa kanilang mga treatment.

We can do so much better than this, than to see our kababayans lining up like this, Mr President, kasi may pondo naman tayo. It is really a matter of managing our resources properly and putting them into good use. Marami rin, at kanina po sa lounge, I speak on behalf of Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Cynthia Villar, but it is also something I was going to bring up, maraming hindi nakakaalam kung ano ho ang benepisyong matatanggap nila sa PhilHealth, kailangan pa ng maraming information campaign.

I have a very sad story to share. Si Father Rocky of Tuloy Foundation introduced me to 3 street children. Yung isang bata, duling. Kinupkop niya ito sa Alabang and they are given a home, education, and nakakapaglaro pa sila ng football at kung anu-ano pa man. Nung sinabi niya doon sa bunso na duling, sabi niya, oh halika schedule kita ng appointment sa doktor para ang mata mo, makakita ka ng liwanag. Ang bata, umiiling-iling at ayaw, parang nagtatago sa likod ng kuya niya. To make the long story short, tinanong niya ang kuya, bakit takot ba sa doktor? Sabi ng kuya, hindi po, wala po kaming pambayad. So at that tender young age, they already have this concept na kung wala kang pambayad, huwag kang pupunta sa doktor. So we want to change that. I am addressing the agencies. Kailangan alam nila na meron silang matatanggap na tulong at sa iba pang sitwasyon, at sana mas marami pang sitwasyon, libre na dapat talaga tuloy-tuloy ang pagpapagamot.

Then again, yung nabanggit ko ngang collection natin sa Sin Tax, ang laki ding contribution dapat diyan ang nanggagaling sa vapes. Nasa news naman po, marami hong hindi nagbabayad ng tamang buwis dito sa mga e-cigarettes and vapes, so kasama yan sa problema natin pero kasama din sa problema natin ang paglaganap ng paggamit ng kabataan. At yan ay napakalaking issue na na-foresee na natin, kaya nga sinabi natin na kailangan ang age ng access is 21 years old, kailangan ang jurisdiction nasa Department of Health and FDA, at kailangan walang flavors. Pero ang challenge ko po sa ating lahat ngayon, mag-Google kayo, pumunta kayo sa kahit anong app na nagbebenta, makakakita kayo ng mga ipinagbabawal na vape, na ang target ay mga kabataan. So that remains to be a problem for all of us kasi sayang lang ang pagre-raise natin ng funds kung hindi naman natin magagamot ang mga batang ito dahil bata pa lang eh sininghot na nila ang masamang chemicals.

And finally, itong vaccination. For the longest time, isa po tayo sa top na, kasama po tayo doon sa top na unvaccinated na mga kabataan. The good news is, natanggal na ho tayo sa listahan na yun, pero hindi ho pa tayo pwedeng mag-celebrate dahil napakababa pa rin ng coverage natin. Nasa 62 percent pa lang. And with that, our infants, our children, they remain vulnerable to these deadly health conditions na kapag sila po ay tinamaan, ang iba diyan ho ay nakakamatay. We need more health promotions so our mothers, grandparents, fathers will understand the importance of vaccination.

So with that, we are ready to accept the interpellation of our colleagues. I believe Sen. Raffy Tulfo is the first in line.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.