Woman gives birth on sidewalk; gov’t robs PhilHealth again today

A homeless woman gave birth on a Cebu City sidewalk Wednesday. Pale and sobbing that they had no money, she declined pleas by her spouse and a friend to be hospitalized. The infant was stillborn.

A traffic aide and a nurse who happened by called an ambulance. At hospital admission, the doctor offered to remove the placenta and umbilical cord for free to ease the woman’s agony and profuse bleeding. Still she refused, shrieking she had no cash for delivery room fees.

On her insistence, she signed a waiver and was taken back to her sidewalk. The lifeless infant lay in a cardboard carton under the noonday sun. The woman kept bleeding. Her friend could only cradle her in silence. By the time the spouse and their seven children returned, she had breathed her last.

PhilHealth is supposed to cover all income earners and indigents. The woman should’ve been entitled to P9,000 normal delivery or P20,000 cesarean benefit.

But where was PhilHealth?

That morning PhilHealth board members Finance Sec. Ralph Recto and Budget Sec. Amenah Pangandaman sat at the Senate. They defended government’s taking P90 billion from contributors and subsidized members.

First taken was P20 billion last May 10. Another P10 billion today, Aug. 21. Then P30 billion each on Oct. 16 and May 26.

The P90 billion is PhilHealth’s “unused funds,” they claimed. PhilHealth purportedly “spent nothing on vaccines and emergency allowances of hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

They got it all mixed up:

(1) COVID was a “public health emergency” for which government must pay vaccines, health workers and supplies.

(2) PhilHealth is for “private health expenses” of members’ hospitalization and medical procedures.

That difference is in the 1987 Administrative Code and 1995 PhilHealth Law.

Former finance undersecretary Cielo Magno has broadcast that countless times. So have health care reformists Drs. Minguita Padilla, Tony Leachon and Antonio Dans. So have the Philippine Medical Association and more than a hundred specialization societies. So has even the PhilHealth employees’ union.

Failure to differentiate makes Recto and Pangandaman:

• Derelict of fiduciary duty as PhilHealth board members and

• Delinquent with laws.

Equally derelict and delinquent is Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa. As PhilHealth chairman, he should’ve taught them from the start, including members Labor Sec. Benny Laguesma and Social Welfare Sec. Rexlon Gatchalian.

A senator asked Pangandaman if PhilHealth’s P90 billion will be used for other health matters. She replied that P27.4 billion was paid for overdue allowances of COVID health workers. So they did use it for pandemic!

PNA File Photo

At the Senate that Aug. 14, Recto swore that PhilHealth’s excess subsidy was during the 2020 pandemic. But at the spark of public outcry early July, he claimed that the surplus was in 2021, 2022, 2023. A May 10 PhilHealth memo on the P90 billion states:

“Based on the recent approval of the PhilHealth Board on the transfer of the government subsidy for premium contribution, CY 2021-2023, that are more than the benefit expenses of indirect contributors….”

What a tangled web we weave when at first we set out to deceive.

Bongbong Marcos evaded the hot issue in his July 22 State of the Nation. He only prattled: “Government workers can expect medical allowance as additional benefit next year.”

Admitting that PhilHealth benefits are lacking, Pangandaman announced the next day P7,000 medical allowance for each government employee. It’s for health maintenance organization (HMO)-like services: lab test and emergency room coverage.

Hush money? First, P27.4 billion to mollify pandemic frontliners unpaid since 2020. Then, P9.57-billion make-believe HMO for government staff.

Add to that PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma’s wishy-washiness. On Jan. 12 he raised obligatory PhilHealth contributions to P500 a month for lowest earners, up to P5,000 for others. On July 30, amid public howls, he said he’ll tell BBM to reduce contributions.

Government Corporate Counsel Solomon Hermosura supports the P90-billion transfer. Still it violates the 2019 Universal Health Care Act, Section 11:

“[Any] excess PhilHealth reserve fund shall be used to increase benefits and to decrease members’ contributions. No portion of the reserve fund or income thereof shall accrue to the general fund of the National Government or its agencies or instrumentalities.”

That breach stemmed from two unconstitutionalities:

First, Congress tripled to P732 billion Malacañang’s proposed P282-billion unprogrammed budget for 2024.

Then, it inserted a rider for Malacañang to fill up the P450-billion gap with funds from PhilHealth, SSS, GSIS, etc. Thus, overstepping their charters.

The P450 billion is for pork barrels of supermajority lawmakers in cahoots with bureaucrats.

The Supreme Court can stop the crime. Thus, the petition of Sen. Koko Pimentel, urban poor Ernesto Ofracio, women’s advocate Junice Melgar, Dr. Padilla, Profs. Magno, Dante Gatmaytan and Ibarra Gutierrez, Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Progresibong Manggagawa, Public Services Labor Independent Confederation and 93,000-strong PMA.

Their lawyers: Lorenzo Tañada III, Michael Ocampo, Paula Tanquieng.

Backing them are ex-Health secretaries: Jaime Galvez Tan, Manuel Dayrit, Francisco Duque III, Esperanza Cabral, Enrique Ona, Paulyn Ubial.

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