MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is again accepting patients who were getting funding aid out of the now unconstitutional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of senators and congressmen.
Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite reported yesterday that PGH has accepted two of his constituents, including one who needed chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Barzaga said PGH entertained his constituents after he informed the hospital in a letter that he still had more than P1 million in PDAF deposited with the hospital at the time the Supreme Court (SC) declared the congressional pork barrel as unconstitutional.
He said he understood the initial hesitation of PGH officers to accept PDAF patients as they might be accused of ignoring the SC ruling.
The hospital sent home Barzaga’s two patients when they went there for treatment a day after the ruling.
An unnamed senator has also complained about PGH’s alleged refusal to treat his beneficiaries.
Another government hospital, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, has reportedly refused to entertain PDAF patients.
The PGH, NKTI, Philippine Heart Center and Philippine Children’s Medical Center are among the lawmakers’ favorite recipients of medical PDAF.
There could be tens of millions in pork barrel funds remaining with these hospitals. In the case of Barzaga, aside from his P1 million with PGH, he has more than P4 million with specialty hospitals in Quezon City.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has promised to meet with Health Secretary Enrique Ona on the status of these funds.
According to Barzaga, the SC ruling does not affect pork barrel funds that have already been released.
Under the ruling, he said PDAF disbursements “not covered by Notice of Cash Allocations (NCA) but only by Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs), whether obligated or not, are hereby enjoined.â€
The lawmaker said the SC decision clearly covers PDAF releases with SAROs only.
“This means that PDAF funds released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to implementing agencies through the issuance of both SAROs and NCAs are not affected by the SC decision. Implementing agencies can still use them for the purposes for which they are intended,†he said.
A SARO is a DBM document informing an agency that a certain amount is appropriated in the budget for a specific project. It authorizes such agency to obligate the funds and start a bidding or procurement process, which usually takes time.
A SARO is not an evidence of the actual availability of funds or cash. It is issued usually weeks or months after the SARO is released, since the act of obligating funds or starting a bidding or procurement process does not normally require the availability of cash.
Barzaga, an accountant-lawyer, said PDAF funds intended for medical and educational assistance and released to hospitals and schools are mostly covered by both SAROs and NCAs.
The DBM estimates that there were 300,000 college scholars and hundreds of thousands of sick people getting assistance out of the PDAF.
To prevent a Napoles-like racket, Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. has filed House Bill 3444 requiring non-government organizations (NGOs) to comply with strict standards before they can implement projects funded by public funds.
Baguilat noted during the recent annual meeting of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks, the country’s largest coalition of civil society organizations, that the measure would help remove the stigma created by the pork barrel scam on legitimate NGOs.
“This bill is meant to strengthen the government-NGO partnership by ensuring that only NGOs that have the expertise, capability and experience are allowed to implement projects that use government funds,†he said.
The lawmaker said the proposed measure is not meant to restrict the freedom of NGOs but to elevate their status as service providers and not merely as fund conduits.
Baguilat said NGOs that have track record, capability and experience to undertake the delivery of services should be accredited by the government.
“If you are not accredited, you cannot bid for a government contract,†he said. – With Artemio Dumlao