Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 21) — Lawmakers are pushing to allot a portion of government profits from the Malampaya gas field to the improvement of the country’s health care system in the middle of the pandemic.
Party-list congressmen Virgilio Lacson of Manila Teachers and Enrico Pineda of 1-PACMAN called on the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of House Bill 7800, a measure that will amend Presidential Decree 910 to allow Congress to appropriate a portion of the funds for the development of more public health infrastructure.
In a media forum on Wednesday, Pineda and Lacson said annual government revenues from the Malampaya project alone amount to at least $800 million.
The deep-water gas-to-power project located in the West Philippine Sea is expected to run dry by around 2023, Pineda said.
“We only have effectively two more years that we can utilize these funds. If we can utilize this immediately, mas maganda po (that would be better),” he said.
“These Malampaya funds can help us…I think it’s all in the budget, but it is not being tapped because we are limited to oil exploration,” Lacson added.
Lacson and Pineda, together with 1-PACMAN Partylist Rep. Michael Romero, have filed House Bill 7800 or the Public Health Infrastructure Act on September 30.
Under the current version of PD 910, the Malampaya fund may only be used to finance energy development programs of the national government.
Once amended, a portion of the fund used to finance energy resource development and exploitation programs may now include public health infrastructure projects, which could help the Department of Health boost its services, as appropriated by Congress.
“Alam po natin kung ano ang weaknesses ng healthcare system natin sa ngayon. Pero gusto pa natin maimprove ang atin health care system, particularly ang ating facilities,” said Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire, who was also in the forum.
[Translation: We already know the current weaknesses of our health care system. But we want to improve that, particularly our facilities.]
Vergeire said the country is currently running with a hospital bed ratio of one for every 800 individuals, a bit far from the recommendation of the World Health Organization of one for every 500 people.
In terms of pandemic response, special funds can also be used to allot additional vaccines and laboratories to immunize up to 70% of the country’s population. Vergeire noted that only 20% of the country’s population are covered by the available funds.
“It’s not just the vaccines, but the storage, distribution and mobilization of the government…we need our laboratories to be engaged at kailangan sila po ay nakaka-function ng maayos…para meron tayong deliberate network ng facilities (we also need them to function properly so we have a deliberate network of facilities) so we can appropriately respond to the situation,” she added.
The Department of Health has a proposed budget of P131 billion for 2021, lower than this year’s P180 billion.
On Tuesday, the Philippines recorded over 1,640 new COVID-19 cases, bringing total number of infections to 360,775. The death toll is currently at 6,690 while recoveries are at 310,642.
