Pay heed

Renato Tibon .

“The right to health for all people means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without suffering financial hardship.” (Dr. Tedros A. Ghebreyesus,  director general, World Health Organization)

THE Centrist principles are founded on the belief that political, economic and social order must be logically designed to promote and enhance human dignity, an inherent right and the core of all values in communal and inter-personal relationships. It’s why the Centrist Democratic Party (CDP) as a national political party supports revision to the 1987 Constitution which contained disjointed references to the promotion of social justice and human rights, some even requiring enabling laws before they are fully implemented. Encapsulated in the word “HEED” which means to hearken or give care or thought to a course of action, the most basic needs of an individual such as in Health, Education, Employment, Dwelling and adequate Food are given a constitutional guarantee for their “progressive realization” under a special section for Social and Economic Rights both in the Concom-proposed amendment to the Constitution and the Centrist proposal (www.cdpi.asia).

These are the most basic of the citizens’ rights which government and those who have the power to sustain them are paying lip service in favor of immediate gratification from short-term self-serving provisions. Let’s focus on health as an urgent concern. Art. XIII Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution providing for Social Justice and Human Rights affirms that “The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women and children. The State shall endeavor to provide free medical care to paupers.”

From 1987 to the present, the health sector has been languishing for lack of hospital beds, facilities, medicines and health professionals and support medical staff to attend to a growing number of the populace needing immediate and quality health care. Apparently, the government has other priorities.

Up until recently when PRRD signed the Universal Health Care law (RA 11223). It is an acknowledged fact that health care like the other basic needs of the citizenry has political undertones.  The health sector has seen decades of disjointed processes in promoting reforms owing largely to political ineptitude. Thanks to a timely global drive for universal health care initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) providing the “needed technical refinement to ensure that it was comprehensive, practical and feasible” and positive feedbacks from stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector, Congress in the last two years, was persuaded after much political and technical debates, to pass the Universal Health Care Act. The law automatically enrols all Filipino citizens in the National Health Insurance Program prescribing complementary reforms in the Philippine health systems which “will guarantee equitable access to quality and affordable health care services for all Filipinos.”

Still the above law, needing operational guidelines on how to carry out the provisions of the Act will require a conscientious and above-board administration by the Department of Health and Philhealth, two of several government agencies saddled by issues of unprincipled and wasteful practices. Local government autonomy, a vital element in the federalization process, may likewise find meaningful support among the marginalized grassroots level from the effective implementation of this law.

Our present crop of lawmakers and political leaders, inspired by the no-nonsense management style, doggedness and political will of President Duterte may yet rise above their self-concerned disposition and support his initiatives to rid the bureaucracy of corruption and bring government closer to the people. 

Conscious of this responsibility and hearkening to the demands of the Health Sector, Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez, with a new mandate as representative of Cagayan de Oro District 2 in the 18th Congress, filed urgent bills to upgrade and increase the bed capacity of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) from its present 600 beds to 1,200 beds “consistent with the requirements of modern medical technology and its status as a medical center.” The bill likewise proposed “the number of medical personnel, the budget for personnel services and maintenance and other operating expenses xxx shall correspondingly be increased”. Additionally, aware that NMMC, despite the increased number of beds, is now getting overcrowded, Rep. Rodriguez filed a separate bill to construct a satellite hospital to be located at the center of District 2 which is Barangay Tablon, Cagayan de Oro City. This will make medical services available to patients who could not afford to secure medical services from private hospitals and in a way unclog the overcapacity of NMMC. That would indeed be a favorable development for the City of Cagayan de Oro and contiguous provinces.

Congressman Rodriguez, as party president, has made CDP’s HEED platform, representing Health, Education, Employment and Dwelling (Housing) as priority bills conforming to his campaign avowal to District 2 constituents. His election in the 18th Congress as Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments affirmed the trust accorded by majority of his colleagues, aware of his “legal capacity, competency and character to head the committee as a lawyer and a legislator”. A fighter and veteran in debates and deliberations, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine all bills he submits will be in for smooth sailing.

Paying heed to the call, Mr. Performance is now in Congress.

(Renato Gica Tibon is a fellow of the Fellowship of the 300, an elite organization under Centrist Democracy Political Institute with focus on political technocracy. He  holds both position as political action officer and program manager of the Institute. He is the former regional chairman for Region 10 and vice president for Mindanao of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines.)