My younger brother Ricky has certainly come to experience a series of unfortunate events.
Sometime tomorrow, May 26, 2026, Ricky will be undergoing heart by-pass surgery at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC). The good news is that the PHC has all the best doctors and support staff in the country when it comes to heart-related diseases.
The bad news is the Heart Center is apparently classified as a specialized hospital and a government-owned and -controlled corporation. In plain English, it is a business being run by government and that business establishment will be charging Ricky approximately P1.8 million to reroute his cardiac plumbing.
If this shocks you, please don’t blame or curse the Philippine Heart Center. I believe it was just before the COVID pandemic when an official of the GCG or Governance Commission for GOCCs declared that all government-owned and -controlled corporations must generate income to sustain their existence or words to that effect.
If all specialized hospitals fall under GOCCs then it follows that the Kidney Center and the Lung Center, etc. are all required to generate income for operations. Because of this, not only must these hospitals charge for services, but they must also do so at a level of sustainability or profit.
I have nothing against making such establishments self-sustaining but to the extent that my brother and many Filipinos like him have to go around town with a “begging bowl” to solicit help from relatives, friends, government charities as well as politicians makes my blood boil.
My brother’s case is not an isolated matter because so many Filipinos, even those belonging to the middle and slightly upper class, end up sending financial SOS because private and now GOCC hospitals have become unaffordable or financially disastrous.
What really hurts my brother’s feelings is the fact that a month or so before he had a heart attack and was told to get a by-pass, Ricky was telling me that he was no longer included in the health coverage previously extended to immediate family members of HOR employees.
This decision of the Congress leadership is like adding insult to injury because it came after all the scandals resulting from ghost flood control projects and all the stink hounding Cong-Tractors.
While a number of congressmen received maletas of money, their employees now have to sell their maleta, kotse, relo or jewelry to somehow raise enough money to cover serious medical expenses.
To be fair to some congressmen and senators, they have somehow remedied the failure of the administration or the executive department concerning public hospitals and GOCCs like the Heart Center.
The remedy comes in the form of the almighty Letter of Guarantee or the equivalent of a promissory note that members of Congress and Senate regularly issue to any and all public hospitals that would accept the Letter of Guaranty.
Yes, it is controversial and ironic that Filipino citizens have to go to their favorite legislators to get bailed out of the hospital and the poor house, but in truth it is a working formula for the politicians because the LG system facilitates and even fasttracks hospitalizations of their constituents or voters at large.
I have to raise the complaint of both public hospitals as well as legislative offices that in the system of issuing Letters of Guarantees, a serious bottleneck is created by the Department of Budget and Management which is accused of delayed payments to refund public hospitals.
As a result of this, public hospitals are forced to incur “unprogrammed” expenses just to accommodate or extend medical attention beyond monthly budgets. It is almost like forcing hospitals to violate the rules in order to save lives. Does the President even know these things happen?
Except for the PhilHealth and the Malasakit Centers that Senator Bong Go supports, I am hard pressed to name any other government program related to financial assistance for hospitalization of ordinary Filipinos.
I know that DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa is quietly trying to boost or establish the BUCAS program or Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services, but the centers are few and far between and cover only urgent care, minor surgeries and diagnostic services.
It also does not help if the DOH secretary is constantly subjected to political intrigues instead of being supported or even directly supervised by the Office of the President if needed, in order to solve the increasing pressure on public health.
Instead of trying to scalp Secretary Herbosa, we might all do better by just giving the guy a wish list or marching orders to address the need to expand and multiply the number of public hospitals, implement a screening and service procedure starting from primary clinics or hospitals in every barangay upwards to tertiary hospitals.
Perhaps it would help if members of Congress and the Senate spent a little time interviewing the Department of Budget and Management regarding bottlenecks in compensation for public hospitals, and the GCG to better define the cost of sustainability that is affordable for Filipinos.
Last but not least, if the Senate can have a new-old building with the projected cost of P33 billion, why can’t we have twice or thrice the number of specialty hospitals? If Cong-Tractors can steal trillions of pesos, the government can at least build hospitals that can heal!