EDITORIAL - ‘Soft pork’ is still pork

Listen to the physicians, who point out that under the Universal Health Care Act, every Filipino is entitled to “automatic, rules-based access” to health care, through the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., without endorsements, without politics.

PhilHealth has long been in place, tasked to be the payer of services under the UHC law. But lawmakers have created a new tax-funded health care program, whose main difference is that they get a say in approving the beneficiaries, through “guarantee letters” from their offices.

This is the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients. MAIFIP has been denounced by at least 72 medical and health care organizations as a health pork barrel.

“MAIFIP creates a parallel, discretionary system where access depends on letters, offices and influence. That’s not universal care – that’s selective care,” said public health care advocate Dr. Tony Leachon. “We all want a health system that protects people – not one that forces them to beg for help.”

Other doctors have pointed out that tax-funded health care must be treated as a right of every citizen rather than utang na loob or debt of gratitude to a credit-grabbing politician.

Apart from allocating P51.6 billion for MAIFIP – more than double the P24.23 billion proposed by the executive – the bicameral conference of the 20th Congress also approved other “soft pork” aid programs in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill. The most notorious is AICS – the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations – which was allocated P63.9 billion, way above the P26.9 billion proposed by Malacañang.

Both Congress and Malacañang gave assurances that guarantee letters are out and lawmakers will have no say in MAIFIP and AICS. But the guarantee letters may be simply replaced by something with a different name. Also, local government officials may play a role, and a number of them are spouses or children of lawmakers.

The uproar over the “most corrupt budget ever” – the outlay for 2025 – made the accusations of fund misuse hurled by the administration against Vice President Sara Duterte look puny in comparison. This insistence on “soft pork” in what is being painted as the “cleanest” national budget ever will reinforce the perception of insincerity toward budget reforms. And President Marcos, if he goes along with it, will be seen as complicit.

Members of the 20th Congress should forgive the public for skepticism over their avowed commitment to transparency.