House wants more local gov’t health funds

Quezon Rep. Angelina “Helen” Tan, chair of the House committee on health. Screengrab from the HOR livestream

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill requiring local governments to earmark at least 15 percent of their national tax allotment for health services.

House Bill No. 10392 would amend Section 287 of the Local Government Code and the required allocation would be on top of existing health services.

Quezon Rep. Angelina Helen Tan, chair of the committee on health and principal author of the bill, said “the pandemic has underscored the important lesson that [local governments] must be at the front lines of [Universal Health Care] implementation and every local chief executive must recognize that health is a strategic concern that must be immediately and adequately addressed because it is a prerequisite to social development,” Tan said. —NESTOR CORRALES