FILE PHOTO Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire. (Senate PRIB Photo)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has asked the House of Representatives to restore the P500 million line item budget for cancer patients, which was not included in the proposed 2023 national budget.
During the hearing of DOH’s budget before the House of Representatives committee on appropriations, officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire lamented that when they reviewed the National Expenditure Program (NEP) made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the line item for the cancer assistance fund was omitted.
In response to BH Representative Bernadette Herrera’s question about funding for cancer assistance, Vergeire proposed the funding.
On February 19, 2019, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law, also called the National Integrated Cancer Control Act.
“Yes po, ‘yon pong cancer assistance fund na line item natin based on the Cancer Law, we’ve started the implementation and through a joint memo circular with [DBM], mauumpisahan na po natin siya ngayon. Unfortunately, when we looked up at our NEP wala po dun yung cancer assistance fund,” Vergeire told Herrera.
(Yes, our cancer assistance fund is a line item based on the Cancer Law, we’ve started the implementation, and through a joint memo circular with DBM, we have already begun to it. But, unfortunately, when we looked at our NEP, the cancer assistance fund is not included.)
“We did our appeal to the Department of Budget and Management, but still, we were not given that approval. So ngayon po humihingi kami ng tulong and appeal to our House of Representatives to bring back the cancer (fund) worth P500 million to our budget line item,” she added.
(We appealed to the Department of Budget and Management, but we were still not given that approval. So now we are asking for help from, and are appealing to our House of Representatives to bring back the cancer [fund] worth P500 million to our budget line item.)
When Herrera asked if the assistance funds for 2022 were used, Vergeire said R.A. No. 11215 was not fully implemented in 2022 due to “contradicting provisions” in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
However, DOH clarified that they have crafted a joint memorandum circular together with the DBM in August and will now be able to implement the cancer assistance fund.
“This was not really fully implemented for 2022. May joint memo circular po kasi na kailangan based on the provisions na maitupad natin ang cancer assistance fund. There were these contradicting provisions kasi from the GAA of 2022 versus the specific IRR (implementing rules and regulations) and law na meron tayo sa cancer na kailangan iklaro yung gamit ng pondo,” Vergeire said.
(This was not fully implemented for 2022. There is a joint memo circular that we need based on the provisions so that we can implement our cancer assistance fund. There were these contradicting provisions within the GAA of 2022 versus the specific IRR and the law that we have, which is why we need to clarify how funds would be used.)
“Kasi sa special provisions sinabi do’n diagnostics and other expenses but for the law, specific lang po siya sa ibang serbisyo so nagkaroon pa ng reconciliation ang DBM at DOH and we were able to finally agree so yung joint lumabas na ngayong August. so magpapatupad pa lang po tayo ng cancer assistance fund ngayon,” she added.
(DBM and DOH finally came to an agreement on diagnostics and other expenses because the special provisions mentioned them, but the law only mentions other services. As a result, we released a joint memorandum in August, paving the way for the cancer assistance fund.)
After Duterte signed the National Integrated Cancer Control Act in 2019, Congress allocated funds to the program to provide affordable and accessible medical treatment for cancer patients.
READ: House to push for adequate funding for cancer control law in bicam — Velasco
In 2021, the House allocated P620 million from the P4.5 trillion national budget to the government’s cancer control program. However, several healthcare advocates have slammed the DOH for its alleged slow action on the signing of the joint memorandum circular, which would allow the release of the budget for the Cancer Assistance Fund. — With reports from Catherine Dabu, trainee