Sa kabila ng desisyon ng Korte Suprema na nagbabasura sa Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) at Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP)–dalawang klase ng lump sum appropriations na nasa kontrol ng mga mambabatas (sa kaso ng PDAF) at Punong Ehekutibo (sa kaso ng DAP)–nagpatuloy ang sistemang ito sa 2014 badyet at sa panukalang 2015 pambansang badyet. Ito ang mahihinuha mula sa audio recordings ni ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio sa executive sessions (mga sesyon na di-bukas sa publiko at midya) sa Kamara, kaharap ang ilang opisyal ng Ehekutibo. Dito, makikita ang mistulang pag-amin nila na buhay pa ang sistema ng pork barrel ng mga mambabatas–ang sistema ng paglaan ng milyun-milyong pondo mula sa kaban ng bayan na nasa diskresyon o kontrol ng mga mambabatas para magamit sa political patronage, ayon sa mga kritiko nito.

Sa unang transcript, ipinaliwanag ni Sek. Patricia Licuanan ng Commission on Higher Education kung papaano maaakses ng mga kongresista ang P14-Milyon na pondo para sa mga iskolar na napili ng naturang mga kongresista.

Sa pangalawa, nagsagawa ng briefing si Health Undersec. Janette Garin hinggil sa mga pamamaraan para maaakses ng mga miyembro ng Kamara ang mga pondo para sa medical assistance ng mga constituent nito, sa ilalim ng badyet ng Department of Health sa 2014 General Appropriations Act.

Basahin at pakinggan ang dalawang transcript ng dalawang sesyon, na binigay ng ACT Teachers’ Party-list:

(Bold emphasis mula ng ACT)

---

Maririnig dito ang audio recording.

PARTIAL AND PROVISIONAL TRANSCRIPT
AUDIO RECORDING OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HEARING

Batasang Pambansa South Wing Annex Building
4 August 2014

DR. LICUANAN: Mr. Chair, I just should respond, at this point, to some of the issues, because I am equally confused and very frustrated, because we really thought we were trying our best to, to do what was right. Let us…let us look back historically. We had a system. The PDAF system was there. … It harmonized with CHED, we, we, cooperated with the – is this on? We cooperated with the Congressmen who were given their PDAF allotment, and we helped them distribute the… the scholarship grants and, in a way that was pretty much satisfactory. It may not have been a perfect system but it was there. It was a system we’ve worked with for many years. And then…

CONGRESSMAN RUFUS RODRIGUEZ: May I object to that because that is not true. That is not the situation during the PDAF. The PDAF did not pass the CHED. The PDAF went directly to the state universities so you have no, you have no totally… totally no intervention. Well in my case, it has… I think most of all or all of us because when we give our… when we give our menu … to the committee of Cecile here, it was very clear, the SARO, you cannot ask the money… we gave it to the state universities. There was no problem… even when the CHED, because there was no more PDAF then you can go to the CHED. But I would tell you. That we submitted to the Speaker last year. So this is not a post intervention. Before…before the, the budget was approved, we already, the Speaker already gave you already our allocation. Is this not correct? Because we gave our lists, we gave all lists last year… on how… on how to allocate the 14 million. You see. So you know… let me continue that I just tell you there is mostly no intervention by CHED… when PDAF was alive because our SARO, the SARO given goes directly to the schools, to the public state universities and colleges, exactly the situation. So now… the only landmark declaration is now, and we do not have to question that precisely because there is no more PDAF, it is to the CHED. And then we submitted allocations so therefore there is no such thing as post because this is submitted by the Speaker’s office and the Committee, the Appropriations, given to you before December. And so very clear na sabi ko that is why in the other, in the other departments, madam chairperson. In the other departments, na-download na. Ang DSWD na-download na sa regional office saka central office, ang aming, ang aming DOH nasa hospital na. Nandyan na lahat, wala tayong problema dyan. Now, bakit sa inyo hindi pa na-download dito sa aming schools… which were submitted to you by Sherry long time ago?

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Chairman, parliamentary inquiry.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Yes, what is the inquiry all about?

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Ano po ba yung mga rulings natin pagdating sa ganitong klase ng executive session? Dahil pinalabas natin ang media kanina dahil executive session ito. Dahil baka mamaya may makalampas tayo dito na sasabihin natin na hindi naman kaiga-igaya sa pandinig ng iba nating mga kasama, ay ano ba ang ating ruling dito? Baka mamaya paglabas diyan, mayroong magpa-interview diyan, na yun, pini-pressure na naman ng mga congressman ang CHED. Ginigisa na naman ang CHED dahil hindi masunod sila. I think Mr. Chairman we should clarify to ask the ruling.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: This is an oversight committee hearing. So, it is inherent in the legislative powers of Congress that we can act as an oversight body especially for funds that are also…that are basically public funds, and again I made it clear early that the legislative intent is very clear…is that scholarships must go on…

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, the confidentiality of executive session?

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well of course, executive session. The rule is confidential talaga pag sinabi nating confidential.

CONGRESSMAN ABU: What if a member, what if a member of the Committee on Appropriations or the Oversight Committee or any of, any of his staff after na, after ng hearing eh lumabas at magpa-interview at dini-vulge kung ano ang nangyayari dito, what would be the sanctions?

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Well, pakiusapan na lang natin, since this is an executive session, dito na lang.

[Laughter.]

CONGRESSMAN ABU: Takot ho ako dito.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Congressman Teves, please.

CONGRESSMAN TEVES: …When I submitted…actually there’s no problem in Region 7 as of now. Our Regional Director has been very cooperative …Region 7… so far cooperative naman. … May confusion kaming konti because.. of course… when we try to limit our 14 million, our submissions to the 14 million, I know for a fact that other members of Region 7 cannot even occupy half of that, like Siquijor for example or Congressman Caminero’s district for example… so I … submitted more and I do not know what the rule should be on how we will be using our, our money as a whole in the Region, Mr. Chairman. However, if the case should be, we will be restricted to the 14 million then I would respectfully request that on our next budget for 2015, this should be rectified so that I can accommodate the others. Secondly, of the old scholars that were hit by the PDAF, in which I remember correctly Congresswoman Almario was talking about the HEDF that we’ll be using to pay for the old scholars, the previous scholars when the PDAF was not yet declared illegal… I would like to make sure that it that will be followed. Otherwise, again, Mr. Chairman, I would request that for the 2015 budget, it should be rectified; our 2015 budget should make sure that this would be covered because I am sure that some of them will be graduating already. They will not be able to get their diplomas if they’re not gonna get paid, Mr. Chairman. That’s all. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN UNGAB: Yes, we’ll take that into consideration, your honor. So after Congressman Teves is , Chairman Licuanan.

DR. LICUANAN: Yes, sir. Yes, I was, I was, in the middle of a thought and then Congressman Rufus made a correction. Actually I agree with you for the most part, that most of the PDAF was really direct. But we did handle some of it. Some. But we had a system also of scholarships in CHED, a number of… different types of scholarships.

Okay, so what were some of historical events that took place unexpected by, I think, Your Honors as well as us. We were taken quite a bit by surprise. The first was the TRO on the PDAF and essentially, you know, CHED is the bad guy here. But you have to give us the credit. When that happened, we immediately wrote all the SUCs and said, please take in the PDAF scholars, if they were there from the first sem, keep them on. I’ll make it good to you, it’s my, it will be on, I’ll find the money, I’ll pay you back. My expectation was that the Supreme Court would reconsider for health as well as scholarships. But we know that did not happen. So, even worse than a TRO, it was declared illegal. We consulted Your Honors because that is very frightening. Here we are, the PDAF is illegal, and in a way you were working out a system where it would be realigned and given to us. Now, what are we supposed to do? We understood it to mean – and I know I don’t have the refinements of whether it’s oversight or whatever – but the fact is my understanding is that – you used the term earlier. Illegal post- …intervention. So in other words, you make the law, you don’t implement it. That was also pointed out, not in those terms, but we had a previous encounter with the Commission on Audit. They had a very serious audit observation memo to us, report to us, that essentially the way we were handling some of the PDAF that came to us as well as the Congressional scholarships that we give out was different from our usual scholarships which followed the same set of CHED guidelines. So that was even before PDAF became an issue. We said, alright. In which case, we will make sure that the same guidelines prevail for all the scholarships that we handle, including the Congressional ones. So, having already committed ourselves to that, when this happened, when the PDAF was illegal, then you presented, and you realigned it to various agencies. We had to do the right thing. We did not want to do anything illegal, we did not want to get into trouble with COA, we did not want to go against very, very vociferous public opinion against PDAF. So our solution was at that time, very clear. In my mind I said, the Congressman will nominate. They can recommend. Of course, that is their right. They do that all the time. These are their constituents. They know, they know the situation on the ground. I already had my script for the media when they say would, “O, may PDAF pa rin ano?” And then you are, you are…what is the term for…you are a collaborator, you’re doing the same thing. At any rate, I had to protect the agency, I had to protect the Aquino government. I had to make sure we played by the rules. And that was all settled. You would recommend. You would tell us exactly who your candidates were and we would apply our guidelines and so COA will be…will have no complaints, and neither would Congressman Tinio or anyone else who wants to… to squeal on you guys. [Laughter.]

So that’s what we thought we were doing. But the system I guess takes time. Essentially what was happening I think on the ground is not everyone got …. The other thing that Congresswoman Almario mentioned was that we were advertising and we were publicizing…which in a sense is true, in the sense that that’s our duty. We have a lot of grants, we have to make this public. But in our adjustment already, internally, we said priority would be given to the recommendees, the listahan of the congressmen. Eh di bahala na yan. Well, in fact, my instructions to the Regional Directors – please forgive them for whatever weaknesses they may have but this was all so sudden and we are a lean organization. We really do not have the staff on the ground to handle all of a sudden this huge new allotment of scholars and a new system pa, plus we have to deal with COA and the legitimacy of no PDAF, but we have this allocation. So even they have difficulty understanding. Finally, I said, Okay people, this is the way it just has to be. You know, I know it was supposed to be illegal, dapat wala na but actually meron pa, because they are also taken by surprise. In fact, nagmakaawa na rin ako. I said, the congressmen did not expect this, this is something that they had all of this time. Then all of a sudden they are told it is illegal. What do you expect them to do? So at any rate, I tried to get CHED to understand and the Regional Directors. However, there were some who already publicized na. That is true. And there are many people out there, who really think I now have 4.1 billion new scholarships. They don’t think it’s PDAF, they don’t think it’s going to you. These are perfectly intelligent people, they say ”Wow, I will publicize in Sorsogon that, you know, you have all of these extra scholarships. And then I’m supposed to tell them, No! No! don’t do that, because actually the congressmen are all going to get it. So, we have to go through this kind of…semblance. We understand each other. I really want to cooperate.

Now, with regard to your points. Excuse me, please. Congressman Rufus, you have tremendously innovative programs and I really like what you do. Unfortunately they’re a little exotic for our guidelines, which we are bound to follow. So how can we do that, how can we find new guidelines, which would… These are not new guidelines. They are old guidelines with just a few…in fact a few changes, that came from our interactions with Congress. They were the ones who put in some suggestions, we went through some public consultations. But we have to have one set of guidelines. That is what will protect us from being accused of being intimidated by the Congressmen. See? No! We’re not intimidated, we’re not whatever. We have guidelines! And as long as the guidelines are followed, you and I and the government is protected. That’s the reason why, you have to, I beg your indulgence, you have to respect and… these guidelines. Now, your programs. There must be a way where we can handle those. But to be very honest, Congressman Rufus , you’re a little…you’re an outlier. It’s a little bit difficult to handle that you’re sending them to UP, they are going to medicine, for some you pay all the transportation, you pay so many things. It’s not in our guidelines. It’s very difficult to make that part of the guidelines. Guidelines should find the common denominator. Something that will accommodate as many as possible. So yours and a few others – the Speaker’s, Congressman Rodriguez, uhh, Congressman Gonzales. You have rather exotic needs, which we said we will still try to solve. But unfortunately, our guidelines do not apply.

Now, how is it? I cannot believe… Chair Ungab, that we are so bad! That compared to – there are five agencies you downloaded to. How could CHED…that’s why I’m asking our colleagues here. How could it be that that everyone else is doing so wonderfully and accommodating and everyone loves them. And here CHED is the only one na palpak? Pa’no naman nangyari yun? So that’s… And I will, and I do. I have met our Regional Directors, how many times, Joji? Maybe five times. We call them here every time Sherry texts me and says “More problems. You know, these are the complaints, these are coming in.” Summon, summon please. Bring them to Manila. Let’s work this out. And I know there are some that may be problematic. But for the most part, parang they seem to be already working.

This morning we had another meeting, and I said ano pa’ng mga problema? One seems to be…yung listahan ng congressmen, do not complete their allotment. And so they’re worried about losing that. So we have to find a solution. And maybe this thing of downloading to the SUCs. And if DBM will allow a trust fund. Because DBM is quite against trust funds, to be quite honest. We’re caught. Everyone is applying their rules on us and we’re trying to be obedient. You can’t follow all the rules pala at the same time. Because the rules conflict. Okay. So that might be a solution.

The other problem is – sobra. Because, one, it’s possible that our Regional Directors, in their zeal, already did their job before we told them what the restrictions were. That actually, this is not true, you do not have four point…you do not have fourteen million per district na extra. This will really be for the congressmen. So they had already publicized it the way they normally do, normally do, and they have applications. So, we said, well you have to worry about that as well, may sobra.

And the other one…problem that you always bring out, Congressman Ungab, about priority courses. We’ve tried really to accommodate that within some flexibility. Because we said, okay, may priority courses nga ang CHED. However, each Regional Director has the prerogative to expand it. Three percent. Three percent, yeah. So, keep that in mind.

So…so, I just beg the group to try and come up with a practical solution. I tell you. I do not have an attitude problem here. I am really trying. And I’m a reasonably competent person. I’m a reasonable manager. How am I failing here? When I am also dealing and accepting the political reality that this is PDAF, that we are just changing for this transition year. You have all said, “Next year, dederecho na kami. We are going…” Ano yan, when we are negotiating, they say, “Next year, hindi na sa CHED yan.” Ay salamat, sabi ko. Salamat. Talaga. Because it is really so much. It is a headache. I’d like to find a solution. Please, believe me.

[Audio recording proceeds for another one hour and five minutes.]

---

Maririnig dito ang audio recording.

Provisional Transcript
Audio Recording of meeting of Department of Health Undersecretary Janette Garin with Members of the House of Representatives and their staff to discuss the DOH Medical Assistance Program

Andaya Hall, Batasang Pambansa

May 20, 2014

Usec. Garin:

Good afternoon everybody, I’m Dr. Janette Garin representing the Department of Health. I was actually with the House of Representatives for the past nine years. So first and foremost in behalf of the Department of Health, allow me to apologize for all the chaos and confusions that the Medical Assistance Program has created. Admittedly, there were a lot of lapses in our end, guidelines were being amended I believe for 3 times. So pasensya po sa nangyari, precise for me to say that last week before the Secretary left for Geneva, this whole program was transferred to my office. I willingly and gladly accepted because I look at my position as something that was given to me with confidence and something that placed be there because of the teachings of my previous mentors in the House of Representatives like boss Tito Raul Del Mar, so andidito po ako ngayon, we admit medyo marami ang mga reklamo, medyo marami ang confusions, so I hope, I hope you will allow us to apologize for that, but also allow us to have a little breathing space.

For the past two days we actually reviewed all the, everything that we had that has happened, including the guidelines, including the process, and precise for me to say that admittedly most of the lapses were on the part of the Department that we admit and the guidelines that was given to you was in contrary to the initial guidelines that I presented to the Speaker and the officers of the House. Hence it became more tedious. So we actually have a new set of guidelines, so we’ll be giving it in awhile. Just to mention few things. The previous administrative order that the secretary signed will now be amended by the new AO that he signed before he left for Geneva so just to clearly point out, well the, the GAA states that the eligible patients are the indigent patients so nagkakaroon po ng maraming confusion because yung iba kasi they, there’s alot of definition to indigent patients so for this purpose we defined the patients as MAP indigent patients. Okay, so the qualifications will be a recommendation from the MAP officials, and who are the MAP officials? Kayo yan, these are the Congressman or your designated personnel.

So yun po ang nangyayari and the eligible patient are all patients admitted or seeking consult in a government health care facility. Now on the implementing mechanism, we also learned that because it was going together with PAU or the Public Assistance Unit of the Department of Health, nagkaroon ng maraming requirements so on the provision of Medical Assistance there were requirements as to the original complete prescription for medicines and medical supplies, the original laboratory request, the original physician’s order request form and the statement of account all of this, so for your previous guidelines under Section 4, B that whole paragraph has been deleted so we, the new guidelines that you have now, it’s totally deleted kasi andudun nga yung sinasabi ninyo na pinapabalik-balik yung pasyente, totoo yun kasi hinahanap yung mga original request and the patient has to look for the doctor to sign it and that task alone is very tedious kasi yung doktor minsan nag-ra-rounds, minsan nasa ibang… so lahat ng requirements na yun mawawala yun, also the hospitals, we had a meeting with them last week and he said of a single contact person they are required to have at least two contact persons in-charge of this program, the directory of which we will give to you in awhile.

On the previous guidelines, there were also a, a, a table that reflected the guidelines in terms of DOH-retained Hospital facilities and the non-DOH-retained hospital, hospitals and health care facilities. Okay, basically the problem was this, for the DOH-retained health facilities, mali naman po talaga, lalo na pag sinasabi nila na “uy, sorry po wala po ditong pondo yung Congressman ninyo,” hindi po talaga dapat sabihin yun. Okay, so we already called the attention of all the chief of hospitals and in-fact a memo has been released to them last Friday.

So we will have three procedures, unang-una po yung pinapakiusap ng lahat na downloading ng funds, the finance department, the finance section of the Department of Health has facilitated that, but we understand that, because of bureaucracy, minsan natatagalan. So if your funds are already downloaded in the DOH hospitals. So I repeat unang-una po downloading of funds to DOH Hospitals including retained hospitals that includes the regional medical centers and specialty hospitals if your office has funds there, you can transact directly with them yung point person nandudun, second, if in case nagpadala kayo ng pasyente, pagkapadala ninyo ng pasyente sinabi ay wala po ditong pondo yung opisina ninyo which usually happens, this is something that we admit should not happen but unfortunately the process of requesting the funds and downloading it takes a lot of time. So the proposal that we have in this case kung saka-sakaling pagdating, wala diyaan, walang pondo yung office or whatever, we have a directory that will be given to you and that will be e-mailed to all your offices. In that directory, there are two persons in-charge of all hospitals, so makikita ninyo dun sa directory, andidito yung mga pangalan ng mga hospitals and then kung sino yung contact person na tatawagan ninyo. So for any problem, you immediately call, text or e-mail the persons in-charge of that hospital and automatically they will issue a guarantee letter direct to your office and direct to the hospital.

Kung saka-sakaling hindi pa natanggap ng hospital, dala-dala na ng pasyente ninyo yan kasi ibibigay ng office ninyo pero kung yung pasyente naman nasa hospital, dun din niya kukunin. It’s just like an alternative, kung in case wala pa yung pondo ninyo dun sa specific na hospital. In that way, we will not let the patient wait, we will not let your office wait and if the patient will be discharged on that day or the day after, the guarantee letter will be honoured. We also understand na yung guarantee letter na unang nirelease, medyo yung format, I mean it’s good, it’s okay. Unfortunately the format creates a lot of questions kasi nga parang it’s, it’s an indigency program of the DOH. Nawawalan ngayon ng, let’s admit it the political points in, in the case of the office requesting it kasi ang nakapirma dun is Asec. Lagajid and it was placed there na hindi pwedeng i-honor pag Saturday and Sunday. Andudun din yung nakalagay na it’s charged in the office of the Secretary. So all of these were deleted. We will be giving you the new format of the guarantee letter. What is there is a bar code on top because that is our control, and that’s also given to the hospitals. So nakalagay lang dun yung pangalan ng pasyente, kung saang hospital and the amount that you would like us to place in the guarantee letter.

Now, the people in-charge, kaya yan dalawa for the mean time, but in the next two weeks they will be three. Why? Because they will be on 24/7 duty so that you can call the number that we will be giving will be endorsed appropriately because they will be on eight hours duty so holidays, weekend, gabi man, madaling-araw man, merong sumasagot sa text or tawag ninyo. We will give the names to you and the contact numbers at the appropriate time. Now, the third one is the Local Government Unit hospitals. We already have issued a directive to all our regional directors to… to come up with a MOA that we have drafted it’s… it’s a new memorandum of agreement for them to make representations for the governor to sign to cover all the hospitals, and in the case of LGU Hospitals we understand na sa iba walang problema pero yung iba naman may problema. And on the part of DOH naman, we are bound by COA not to release funds if we have no obligation. So their mechanism will again be like a reimbursement process where all guarantee letters released by your office to them will be reimbursed within 10 working days by the department. So yan po yung tatlong sistema. Just to make a recap, there will be three mechanisms, the first will be your funds will be directly downloaded to the specialty hospitals and all DOH-retained hospitals and when that happens, you can communicate directly to them, but just in case, pag punta nung pasyente ninyo, pagtawag ninyo, hindi kayo agad-agad na-entertain, we will be giving you a directory for the personnel in-charge 24/7, just give them the name of the patient, the amount and then a guarantee letter will be immediately forwarded to your office. The hospital will also be copied and the personnel in-charge, the cashier office will also be texted, yung number, the amount, and the name of the patient. Para po agad-agad na ma-entertain. That mechanism also follows for the LGU` Hospitals.

Now the other requirements, that yung table sa previous guidelines ninyo, that was actually page four in the old requirements. What you have now is the new one. Tinanggal na namin lahat yun. We admit it’s also very tedious especially if the patient has to go to the social worker and come up with all these documentary requirements. Now on the determination of the eligibility of the patient for assistance from the MAP, we have also deleted that because the eligibility of the patient is actually your decision. Then… also to erase all doubts we included it in the guidelines kasi yung LGU Hospitals are concerned na baka hindi sila mabayaran or whatever.

Nakalagay na doon that within 10 working days the department is obliged to pay them. That’s why in the letter that we sent out to the governors and the regional directors and the chief of hospitals, we requested for their corresponding bank and bank accounts para direkta nang bank-to-bank na magbabayad lahat, lahat-lahat, bank-to-bank na yung pagbayad ng central office sa lahat ng mga hospitals. Now, there are also a lot of, the reason why there were a lot of requirements in the previous guidelines, was that in the GAA that was approved, andudun na naka-stipulate yung medicines given, laboratories done, yung mga itemized list. So all of that will now be complied by a specific team that will be handling. So every patient, tuloy-tuloy yung pagbigay ninyo ng assistance, but my office, there will be five, or four or five personnel whose work will be to comply with all the requirements under the GAA. Yung mga gamot na binibigay. So all of these requirements para hindi na yun itulak sa pasyente. Kasi kaya rin nagrereklamo yung ibang pasyente dahil napi-pingpong sila. Ang daming opisina na pinupuntahan, which is actually not good kasi parang pinapahirapan pa sila. So that has been deleted.

And instead it will be a responsibility of my office to comply with all of these requirements. Now on the, on the draft memorandum of agreement with the LGU`s, while initially we wanted to just have it signed by the chief of hospital, hindi nga raw pi-puwede kasi they are under the direct supervision of the local government chief executive. So the others have decided not to put funds in the LGU` hospitals but for those who will be putting funds, our… our assurance is that, hindi naman siya magagamit ng governor kasi first, we are bound by COA rules not to download kung wala kaming payables. So kung may guarantee letter galing sa inyo, yan po ang babayaran ng Department of Health. Now, there were also concerns that were raised to us. We realized na nagkaroon ng dalawang forms. And yung una kasi, I was confused when I was receiving calls because that the entire program was handled by another office.

Now I understood ito palang dalawang forms because it’s a PAU or a Public Assistance Unit Office, yung isang form na pinapadala sa inyo parang yung mga walk-in patient na gustong magpatulong. The PAU office writes a recommendation and sends it to your office. So medyo hindi maganda kasi parang ang feeling tuloy ng pasyente nagpunta siya sa DOH, ngayon itutulak namin sa office ninyo. Pag hindi agad na-entertain ng office ninyo, marami pang salita. So the decision of the Department is to do away with all walk-in patients because in the first place it was made clear to us that these funds are not DOH funds but are actually funds of Congressmen who are there to assist their constituents. So the referral letter if ever you receive one coming from DOH, don’t mind that but we already gave instruction. I mean I personally gave instructions last week to do away with all of those. Kasi hindi pi-puwedeng yung mgs kapag may lumalapit dun ire-refer namin sa inyo. You know best and you know better sino ang nanganagilangan ng tulong sa distrito ninyo. Isa pa, hindi rin talaga namin alam kung constituent ninyo because they can always say they’re from this district, they’re from this area tapos hindi naman. Now there was also the issue of the compilation or the collation of patients for the day before referring to the MAP. Parang binubuo muna sila lahat before ipadala.

Syempre tumatagal din talaga. Kaya everytime na pasyente (kung) if they go to your office, just refer them to us immediately and within 30 minutes at the most that will be… yan na yung pinaka, pinakamatagal. The guarantee letter will be e-mailed direct to your office. Whether it will be your office here or your district office, just give us the e-mail address but aside from that and guarantee letter is also with the respective hospitals so yung issue na kino-collate muna lahat before gawan ng guarantee letter mawawala na yun kasi meron nang taong in-charge for that specific hospital. So if I’m the patient, I’ll go, let’s say to the office of Congresswoman Catamco, pagdating ko dun sasabihin ko dun “Cong., nangangailangan ako ng tulong.” Her office will text the person in-charge then the guarantee letter goes to her office you print it and then you can always say “Ito po tulong ni Congressman, tulong po ng opisina, dalhin ninyo lang ito sa opisina, sa hospital, sa cashier office.” that will be entertained and in the guarantee letter, there’s no mention of any… any person in the Department of Health, just was a mention there of a, of the indigency fund as being used to assist them. Now meron ding mga tanong yung billing amount daw, hindi nagko-coincide sa requested amount sa guarantee letter.

We already gave instructions for the hospitals, kung kunwari ang pinabigay ninyong tulong is four thousand or let’s say five thousand. Yung billing niya kasi nabawasan pa pala ng Philhealth or whatever naging let’s say three thousand five hundred na lang para hindi na tumagal, pakuha ninyo na lang ng take home meds niya. Kasi meron namang mga gamot din na inuuwi sa bahay so pakuha na lang dun. Idadagdag na lang nila sa bill yun. The hospital wouldn’`t mind as long as the amount stipulated in the guarantee letter will be the amount will be the amount that the hospital will honor.

If the bill is like five thousand and the guarantee letter is four thousand five hundred then they have to pay for the 500 kasi medyo mahirap silang i-ano… Okay, the other issue was that yung nagbabago let`’s say meron kayong pondo na ni-request and we fully understand na sa dami ng nakakaharap ninyo syempre minsan, minsan kasi napansin namin meron kayong constituents nag-aaral sa ibang probinsya o ibang region, naaksidente dun nagkasakit whatever happens. Wala kayong pondo dun. So instead of waiting for the downloaded funds, the personnel in-charge dun ulit sa directory na ibibigay at i-e-mail namin sainyo within the day, yun ulit ang tatawagan. Kasi nakalagay naman doon even yung hospital na hindi sa distrito ninyo. So we will still honor that as long as yung pondo ninyo may naiwan pa na hindi siya fully downloaded dun sa isang hospital. So yun yung pi-puwede but if i’t’s like fully downloaded at nautilized na, makikiusap naman kami na mahirap on our part kasi the funds that are remaining are actually funds for use of the other Congressmen. Yung… on the memorandum of agreement that will be signed by the local government chief executive, there was also this concern na ni-re-refer pa sila sa social worker. Well, admittedly it really takes time especially na yung municipal social welfare officer isa lang siya, pag nag-bi-break siya or nag-li-leave wala na.

Since it’s DOH and the hospital has the capability to determine and in the new… new guidelines, the definition of indigent patients and eligible patients is those seeking consult and admitted in the government health care facilitiy. Then our legal department also agreed that we don’t need a social worker para hindi na sila pupunta at di na sila mahihirapan. The mere fact that they sought consult in a government health facility, that’s enough. Now what would be the requirement for the guarantee letter to be honoured, di ba meron yung mga dati original prescription, original clinical abstract, original medical certificate, social worker’s, mga blah… blah… blah. Pinatanggal na namin lahat yun. Kasi sad to say, tama din na magalit kayo because we realized that many if not all of the hospitals meron palang corresponding charges for this, so hindi namin alam yun, our apologies for that. Every document pala na ni-re-require yung clinical abstract, medical certificate. Meron palang bayad. So yung pasyente syempre, mas lalong nagagalit. At yun pala yung battle net, so ini-explain ng hospital na, “hindi, ini-entertain namin yan, kulang lang yung requirements.” Ngayon nung tinanong namin yung mga pasyente, eh kasi yung requirements pala, may bayad din. So ang pangit tingnan. So all of that requirements had been deleted because this is a requirement of the PAU office. Part kasi yun ng parang ISO certification. So these were all deleted. The only requirement that the guarantee letter will be requiring is an attach hospital billing. Okay, because from that hospital billing, magkakaroon na kami ngayon ng papel na puwede naming i-trace para dun sa lahat ng mga requirements for COA and GAA purposes so that’s all the… ay just last… last concern pala.

Ang daming tumatawag tungkol sa procurement of medicines. While we would like to support that, our dilemma is that our hands are tied because in the funds that were approved, naka-specify kasi siya na hospital assistance. May we just request na kung pupwede for the next year, specified dun na puwede yung procurement of medicines for medical missions because as of now, DBM does not allow us. Actually, ang tiningnan din namin, hindi rin kasi solely ma-blame yung DBM kasi ang naging problema, parang yung, may mga COA reports not related to PDAF but related to procurement of medicines, in some hospitals and in some LGU`s. And because of these, parang naging damay-damay ang lahat. So while they are doing things to resolve that, hindi muna in-allow. So yun naman yung medyo dilemma namin but then if you have medical missions these are like out patient, you can group them together like oh you can have a diabetes clinic or you can have a hypertensive clinic and then the laboratories and the medicines that they will be using can be charged to the hospital. So pu-pwede po yung ganun. Yes, sir.

Question from the audience: Good afternoon po! Asec!

Usec. Garin: Hi bossing!

Question from the audience: My question is regarding health facilities that doesn’t have any medicines or medical supplies considering that I’ve heard in the recent news that some private… almost all private hospitals in Metro Manila will not honor cleans completion considering that Philhealth itself owes these hospitals these private hospitals is having a hard time of facilitating for the papers in cleaning the hospital for the Philhealth benefit of the patient. Kasi po that is one side kasi sa amin sa probinsya, talaga pong minsan ang ospital ang… for example in Biliran there is only one hospital which is the provincial hospital. There is no private hospital, there is no national government hospital. The nearest national government hospital is two hours away. Now, most of the patients are really poor. Some of them needs immediate attention, immediate operation… surgical operation like that and has a lot of prescriptions needed for the operations to be conducted immediately. Unfortunately, let’s agree that all… mostly of the government hospitals especially in the rural areas doesn’t have the medicines.

Asec. Garin: The medicines… these are for LGU`s Hospitals… not from, hindi yung DOH hospital.

Question from the audience: Yes… Kasi po ang ginagawa namin dun, during there was PDAF and I’m a doctor kasi. So ang ginagawa ko mino-MOA ko sa government and then we abide by all of the COA rules. Ano bang requirement ng COA? Dahil pag pinasok mo sa LGU yan, the LGU must be responsible for the funds under all COA rules so mangyayari po dyan kailangan ng social profiling. Kailangan ko ng medical certificate or hospital abstract. Hahanapan po sila ng, ng resibo ng mga gamot kaya nangyayari po mas effective nun because nasa LGU ang pondo. Nagpa-facilitate ang district office. Kung walang gamot sa loob ng ospital sa emergency room, kami mismo ang bumibili sa botika sa labas, may resibo, nakapangalan sa pasyente para pag ni-liquidate namin sa COA, malinis. Walang dahilan na kung saan napunta yung pondo pero kung tatanggalin po natin ngayon yung mga requirements na I don’t know if the, the COA will… acceptable sa kanila na walang mga supporting justifications. Just hospital bill lang kasi alam ninyo po kung hospital bill lang ang sagot ng DOH pa, eh talagang kawawa ang mahihirap dahil ang hospital walang gamit, walang gamot, walang anaesthetics, halos wala.

Usec. Garin: Okay, for the COA, sa… sa ganitong sistema let’s go back to the ano please… Okay for this kasi, for the guarantee letter, it will be acceptable to COA because the patient’s bill will allow us to look into what we call the WEB PAIS. So what DOH has setup is an internet linkage among all our hospitals, that we encode the patients’ name,we get their records. So ibig sabihin, actually hindi na yun iko-comply kasi meron na lang kaming mga tao na taga-comply nun. So we transfer the burden of the patients to our staff. Now, yung sa LGU`s we will… we will make immediately presentations with the DBM kasi yung downloading of funds, hindi namin alam kung papayagan in the previous meetings kasi, hindi pi-pwede kung wala kang billing basis.

Now, what we can actually do is that, I don’t know if it will be of much help. What we can do is possibly include it in the MOA that the governor who will sign kasi yung governor naman yung may pondo, the governor who will sign will also manifest that while they are signing kasi it’s actually income for them eh kasi kaysa ang nangyayari ngayon yung pasyenteng walang pambayad, hindi mo naman mapilit, with the Congressional fund now, yung pasyenteng walang pambayad, aside from Philhealth kahit papaano nadadagdagan ang pondo ninyo. So ang mangyayari dun, it’s also a welcome income for them. Then maybe in the MOA, we will stipulate that it’s their mandate to provide the basic meds and the commonly used medicines in their hospital. So that’s one that they can do, but after this meeting allow me to have some time to make representations with DBM and COA on, on how we are going to facilitate the, yeah, pwedeng dun na lang sa first slide. Next slide please. No, no, no, slide, previous slide, okay so this is the new term that will be included. Yung eligible beneficiary, so we do away with the social worker, with the assessment whatsoever, they are seeking consultation, sinama namin yung rehab per request of other congressmen, examination or other… regardless of room category, okay… kasi meron namang mga pasyente na hindi raw tinatanggap kasi nasa semi-private room or private room. Unfortunately, there are illnesses that mandates (sic) their isolation or minsan puno yung hospital. Hindi naman nila kasalanan na sa private room sila. So isasama na lang siya. Ito lang yung problema namin yung professional fees.

Maybe you can help us with, ito talaga it’s, it’s really COA… We, we made several representations, binabalik naman ng COA sa amin which is somehow true kasi, as, as indigent patients hindi, lalo na kapag Philhealth, meron na kasing professional fee. Supposed to be yung doctor hindi na sumisingil. Kaya siya hindi nadya-justify kasi like in the case… actually in a meeting with Philhealth, I put forward a proposal sabi ko sa Philhealth, “baka naman pi-puwede kasi what happens is if I’m the doctor, pasyente kunwari pasyente si cong., Cong. Henry Pryde Teves. May Philhealth siya or HMO, what Philhealth and MHO does, is that they pay the hospital for the medical bills, the PF goes direct to my bank account.” Ganun po yun. So sa government hospitals, ganun din. The Philhealth goes direct to the bank account of the doctor.

So minsan, hindi alam ng pasyente na meron na siyang binayad. So what we are recommending is they give the money or the PF direct to the patient, the patient then pays that to the doctor. Then magtatawaran na sila para may semblance ng bayad. We have a pending proposal about dun sa Philhealth, and medyo nag-okay naman sila initially, kasi ang nangyayari ngayon, people do not know na yung doktor nababayaran na pala ng Philhealth. Kaya pag sumisingil sila, akala naman ng pasyente talagang walang naibayad. Nagdodoble actually. Kasi like hinahanap mo, so philhealth like will pay you eight thousand… so that’s something we would like to solve. Will this still get refunds from payment? Actually, yung sa ngayon. Ahh, kasi yung walang Philhealth. Ngayon pala, yung… just to inform you, there’s a point of care. Okay. What is the point of care program? The point of care says. May pasyente ka. Nasa government hospital. Makikita naman ng hospital na walang pamabayad yun, walang Philhealth. The point of care allows, actually it mandates the hospital to automatically enrol the patient.

Nagkaroon lang ng kaunting glitch kasi nung nagbabayad na yung hospital sa Philhealth na-disallow ng COA. Okay. Yung COA naman nung dinis-allow nila, kasi nasa batas nga talaga na yung income ng hospital, hindi puwedeng pambayad ng Philhealth premimum. So for an exemption we already had three meetings with DBM, during the latest meeting we submitted a format again to Sec. Butch. And then we are awaiting, I mean verbally and in principle secretary Abad already agreed kasi sabi ko “Boss ang kailangan lang naman talaga dito papel na pirmado ng DBM instructing COA that they are now allowing hospitals… they are amending that rule that hospitals can pay for the premium.” So medyo maso-solve na yun, so kung yung pasyente walang pambayad, pagpasok niya at hindi siya enrolled dun sa matrix, pwede siyang i-enrol ng hospital, yes. So yan yung point of care. So yung admission niya na yan, mababayran na siya ng Philhealth.

Question from the Audience: Magandang hapon po. Tanong ko lang U-sec, are all hospitals, nationwide ay may point of care?

Usec Garin: Supposedly, all DOH hospitals, yes. Yung LGU naman, kapag sinama rin sila yun lang yung naging ano… yung payment ng income kasama na rin sila. So lahat po yun.

Question from the Audience: second po ay, yung, kasi, yung halimbawa po, makaka-avail na ang mga indigent patients ng point of care, is it available 24/7? Ang… ang pag-issue po ng point of care para sa mga pasyente po?

Usec Garin: Yes, because the hospital enrols them. So the hospital gets their data, may form na sila. Tapos hindi nga makakabayad yan… babayaran ng Philhealth.

Question from the Audience: So it becomes automatically enrolled? Once they, they are confined. Once they are confined in the hospital. How about Usec, yun pong ano, yung mga emergency cases po, na, yung, yung kailangan po ng pasyenteng mahirap ng kailangan they have to avail yung private doctors, is the point of care… takes care (sic) of that? Halimbawa po naaksidente po at nagkaroon po ng problema sa brain, so the hospital especially the LGUs hospitals ay wala pong available sa kanila na neurologist, kailangan pong kumuha ng private doctor? So how can we address the problem of the patient?

Usec Garin: Yes, yes, yes… Actually as long as the patient is indigent and even if it is a pay patient, tapos walang specialist na available, Philhealth covers them as long as the doctor is Philhealth accredited.

Question from the Audience: So they are fully-covered po?

Usec Garin: Yes, yes. Kaya lang yung Philhealth kasi meron silang like, for this case, ito yung PF. For this case, ito yung PF. Sometimes kasi, the other doctors would charge parang… plus, plus, plus.

Question from the Audience: Yun nga po eh, kasi halimbawa manininingil po ng, yung neurologist, maninigil po siya kung minsan po ng 120, 000.00. Yan po ang ano. Syempre hindi naman po mamimili yung pangyayari, ay hindi makakapamili kung sino yung tao kung mahirap ba siya o mayaman, ang masama, ang mahirap po sa isang mahirap na tao ay maaksidente hindi lamang po sa, sa motorsiklo, whatever accident may happen to an individual, ay masasagot po ba yun? Kung minsan 120, 000, kung minsan 200, 000. Halimbawa po kung minsan kasi mayroon din pong inaatake nasa isang okasyon biglang inatake at dinala po sa heart center, or sa ibang specialty hospital, masasagot po ba yun ng point of care?

Usec Garin: For the Philhealth enrolment, yes. And the fee corresponding to that Philhealth allows. Unfortunately and admittedly, nakakahiya mang sabihin, meron talagang ibang doctors na they take advantage, so nagcha-charge sila ng malaki. May taripa naman supposedly yun pero yung iba nga hindi sumusunod. Because, unlike the lawyers, they have IBP. For the doctors, wala kasing integrated PMA. It was actually the law that I believe congresswoman Binay, myself, and, bothers with… they are pushing before kasi there is no body, dapat din kasi, tama naman na sumingil kasi hanapbuhay nila yun, pero yung tolerable, ang nangyayari kasi parang kanya-kanya na, wala nang sinusunod. That is why na we have a pending proposal with Philhealth maybe you can help us with that, na yung payment ng professional fee na reimbursement goes direct to the patient para yung pasyente dala-dala na yung pera ibabayad niya dun sila magne-negotiate. Kasi nangyayari sa ngayon talaga, it goes direct to the doctor.

Question from the Audience: Saka po Usec, kung hindi po masasagot lahat ng Philhealth, that is why concern po kami na maunawaan po ng COA at ng DBM na sana po yung aming ahh, ahh allotted funds for the medical assistance ay mabigyan po ng pagkakataon na makapag-rekomenda po kami ng professional fee din po pandagdag dun sa hindi po ma-accommodate ng Philhealth.

Usec Garin: Yeah, ahm we will also wait the presentations pero siguro sa, ito kasi yung ngayon nakasama ito doon kasi previously mayroon yatang na-disallow yung COA yun sa, sa PDAF pa before so that’s why pero yung isa naman dun ahm, maybe we should also inform the patients that there is this law lalo na kung government hospital eh hindi pwedeng ma-hold yung patient. So kung nabayaran na yan supposed to be yung hospital pwede na silang i-release.

Question from the Audience: Usec. Halimbawa po ah isang mahirap na pasyente na lumapit sa amin na, na by emergency cases eh nalagay po sa private hospital how can we be of help to them?

Usec Garin: Through the medical assistance program that ahm, you, you recommend as long as they are in the government facility ahm, ah private hospital.

Question from the Audience: Private po… private po nadala po kasi yun po ang pinakamalapit.

Usec Garin: The, the solution talaga dun is you transfer.

Question from the Audience: In the, in the real sense po eh, Usec. nangyayari po kasi yan.

Usec Garin: Yeah, yeah, we understand marami pong nangyayaring ganyan. Pero marami din pong immediately eh nililipat. Acutally there is a proposal to expand yung medical assistance program to include the private hospitals. Kaya lang yung eto nga yung ngayon madalian kasi siya during the budget hearing, Atleast like ahmn, we now have 3 sets for request for the next budget.

Question from the Audience: Yun po kasing ah, alam ko yung funds na allotted for every district ay it has to be identified by a, a district congressman or or party-list ahm, ahh.

Usec Garin: Actually po, not necessarily that is why we wanted to correct that kasi marami na yung nagrereklamo noh, correct us if I am wrong, andaming nagreklamo na bakit daw pinapa-identify ng hospital tapos pag gusto nang ilipat, ang hirap. Ang totoo po, hindi naman po necessary na mag-identify kayo agad, unless you want your money downloaded there immediately. Our initial recommendation was actually, we’ll send the guarantee letters then bayaran agad para walang, walang tagal, walang maraming requirements kasi the hospital structure has a lot of requirements for indigency program natutunga kasi diyan sila eh. So to solve that, yun yung prinopose namin. But then there were others naman we’re very comfortable with outright downloading so sabi namin okay naman yun. For those na wala kayong downloaded na pondo, actually it’s easier, better and more flexible kasi by the time na nagpalit ka ng isip, kunyare party-list congressman ka, dito ka naglagay ng pondo, then mayroon din dun kasamahan ninyo, kaibigan ninyo tumatakbo din, you want to concentrate on this area, so very flexible, all you have to do is look at our directory tell the person in charge you want a guarantee letter immediately to this hospital, this patient, ipadala agad. So hindi na yung na-download na dun, babawiin mo ulit, ire-realign mo.

Mas matagal yun. So for those who were not able to submit a list of breakdown. Wala pong problema. You just call/text Atty. (?) here Moly is the one heading the group. So that’s Moly. Kasama rin dun yung AO ko si Ethel, and then yung si Annalyn. Ito si Moly he will be heading the staff, ito si Moly pakita mo yung… Si Moly will be the one supervising the personnel na 24/7 on 8 hours rotation to cater to your calls… So yung dun sa directory ulitin ko lang dalawa lang muna yung pangalan dun may dadagdag na pangatlo, telephone numbers and name of hospitals. So kung yung pasyenete nandito sa hospital A, ito yung pangalan ng pasyente Hospital A, amount, text ninyo lang yung inyong designated na office or ano padala kaagad namin yung guarantee letter by e-mail kung walang e-mail we will fax it but at the same time we give a copy to the cashier’s office and the director’s office in the hospital. Para pagkapunta yung pasyente kung yung lumapit nandidito or district office, punta sila, ibibigay.

Question from the Audience: For clarification lang po, sana po eh lend me your ears, silence please. Hindi po tayo magkakaintindihan if everyone, all of us are talking. My clarificatory question lamang po ako Usec. Yun po bang ating available personnel in your office po eh can accommodate all congressmen’s ah concerns, regarding, with regards (sic) to the sending of a guarantee letters kasi po katulad ko lamang po sa aming distrito po ay napakarami po na nabibigyan ng, na binibigyan namin dati ng guarantee letter eh kung minsan po animnapu kung minsan po eh isang daang pasyente eh kung kami pong lahat eh almost 300 congressmen po kami can they all accommodate all of us po for that particular day. Pangalawa po. Ay.. yun po munag sgaot.

Usec Garin: Actually yes, ahm pasensya lang po nagkaron po kasi ng konting misunderstanding when this program came in and initially we thought it will be assigned to my office, we trained people, kaya lang nung nagkaroon ng konting, nagkaroon ng meeting si Sec. and with some leaders of the House, nagkaroon ng konting miscommunication so hindi po, parang na-cut, na-cut because they thought that, that hindi na kailangan yung gagawa ng guarantee letter, gagawa ng guidelines, I mean gagawa nung yung mga medicines given, laboratories requested, because it will be requested by the patient sa hospital. Yung lumabas na ngayon na may bayad pala yung lahat ng data na yun, ahm actually ni-retrieve namin yung lahat na trinain, we started calling them, we had a meeting last week, dinagdagan ng tao, so makakayanan po nila. And ahm, if there will be a battle neck at some point of time, nagdadagdag po kami nang nagdadagdag ng tao. But for now, people who were facilitating before that’s a total of 6 or 7 people ahm, now they are 14 and 21. So yun po situation po. For sure they can accommodate everybody.

Question from the Audience: Secondly po, yung ah patients po na na-confine po or iko-confine pa lang sa LGUs hospitals in my province po ay papano po sila mabibigyan ng gamot ng hospital kung wala pa po kasi sabi po ninyo yun munang hospital bill ang ibibigay, isesend po sa inyo. Tama po ba ako. Yun lang pong hospital bill ang isesend po sa inyo at kayo po ang magda-download ng pera sa provincial government kasi ito pong LGUs noh ay under po ng provincial executives ay papano po tatanggapin ng isang LGU hospital katulad po ng samin provincial hospital sasabihin na lang po na. Papano po ba ang communication namin? Ahm, kami po ay magbibigay ng endorsement sa director ng LGU hospital? Or halimbawa po provincial hospitals or district hospitals within my district magbibigay po ba ako ng endorsement sa director para po lahat ng kanyang kailangang gawing examinations, laboratories, ultrasound, CT scan, those are facilities available in hospitals tska po yung medicines yun po ba ay i-endorse ko po sa district, ay sa director ng hospitals for that matter.

Usec Garin: Yeah, we actually sent already a memo to all regional directors and we will be making representations isa-isa po sa lahat ng hospital na any gurantee letter na dala-dala ng pasyente galing sa opisina ng congressman, tanggapin nila because we will also be sending a direct similar copied sila para at least alam nila na mayroon. Now yung ipadadala namin sa congressional office ninyo na ibibigay ninyo ngayon sa pasyente na ito po tulong ni congressman, ganyan, dadalhin ng pasyente yun di ba, ibibigay niya sa hospital, pagdala niya sa hospital, lahat po iyon let us say at the end of two weeks iko-compile ng hospital and then they just send it to the regional office. The regional office will now validate it with us and then we say yes, kasi magpapadala na kami ng amount and do that fund transfer within ten working days. That is the maximum, ten working days.

Question from the Audience: Maraming salamat po. Klarong-klaro na po. Maraming salamat po.

Usec Garin: So hindi po tatagal yung utang.

Question from the Audience: Magandang hapon po ulit Usec, Janet. Alam ninyo po sa DSWD version. Yung oresent version ngayon, I was able to talk to the Secretary Dinky and ah, ganun din ang assistance fund eh kasi from the same fund that what the DOH will provide. Ang napagkasunduan po namin ah regarding dun sa situations like us na malayo kami sa regional office, malayo po kami sa mga regional hospitals, or national agencies, eh ida-download po nila, meron na po silang ginawang MOA from the central office ang pipirma yung regional director ng DSWD at ah ida-download po yung pondo let us say 12 million. Sabi ni Secretary Cong, kahit kalahati lang muna, kasi masyadong malaki ang pondo so yung kalahati po i-da-download daw sa local government na gusto mo na mag-i-implement ng programa ng DSWD at ah, yung provincial government na yun which will be signed by the governor and the regional director of the department yun pong pondo na yun eh responsible na po ang LGU. So yung LGU sila na ang all the auditing policies of the government they should abide by it. And after ma-consume yung 6 million, responsibility ng local government na i-liquidate sa DSWD bago ma-release ang second batch ng pondo. So mas mas magiging effective ito kaysa yung kada release for example walang ibang dapat itong daanan kundi sa local government ah facility dahil malayo nga yung national eh kung dalawa-dalawa liquidation tatakbo ka pa ng region malayo pa maghihintay ka pa ng ten days, doubt it if the national government can immediately facilitate the assessment, the liquidation of all districts in the country, dahil po isa lang ang opisina niyan eh.

And aside sa kanilang normal standard operations, ito pa yung dagdag na trabaho galing sa mga pondo ng ito nga former, I doubt it kung mapapabilis po natin, we are talking here of lives of the people, health ito eh. Hindi naman ito rehabilitation, hindi po ito, ito po ay immediate ang kailangan. Tatakbo sa emergency room. Kailangan kaagad ng gamot alam ninyo po yun, doktor po tayo. Hindi pi-pwedeng paghintayin ng sampung araw ito. Kung hindi puputok yan. Kaya po sa akin po bigyan po natin ng leeway naman, lalo na yung mga lugar na katulad sa amin na ang layo namin sa regional ah, department na kung pwde po meron namang existing COA rules. Napakahigpit ng COA ngayon alam natin lahat. Talagang napakahirap ngayon. Kawawa ang mga LGU ngayon, dahil talagang sobrang higpit ng COA ngayon talagang pag-iisipan mo, na tatanungin mo muna sila tama ba itong paggastos ko bago mo gawin para siguradong safe ka. Sa akin po sana naman sa mga ganitong sitwasyon sana magawan naman ng paraan para kaagad na maibigay ang…

Usec Garin: We will, we will relay and then come, come back to you, magpaalam po kami on how to go about it. Initially kasi nung napag-usapan kasi ang downloading to LGUs when were at the DBM office, ang nasabi kasi nun is hindi kasi diretso sa hospitals, but the premise kasi doon, nagkakaroon ng problema, kaya nga magkaiba yung premise, now that is a very valid reason, before kasi yung nagiging problema na kapag downloaded ang pondo, tapos kasi nag-away si Gov at si Cong or si Mayor ginamit yung ganun hindi nan are-retrieve, that is the problem that we have now in the health facilities enhancement. Kasi…

Question from the Audience: Samin po for sigurado, excuse me, wala pong problema sa amin.

Usec Garin: Yeah… yeah

Question from the Audience: kapatid ko yung governor.

Usec Garin: We will make the necessary representations. But for the mean time.

Question from the Audience: Thank you po.

Usec Garin: Nasaan yung powerpoint? Next slide, next slide, balik, balik, balik. Okay, i-ano ko lang, i-clarify ko lang Cong, i-clarify ko lang Cong, ito ay DOH-retained facilities without downloaded funds. Hindi ibig sabihin nun kailangan may guarantee letter talaga lahat. Minsan kasi, agad-agad yung nagpupunta sa inyong pasyente Heart Center pala siya o nag-aaral siya dun sa UP Visayas so nasa Western Visayas Medical Center siya. Yung pag-download takes time. Kasi may mga documentary, kaya sina-suggest namin na kung wala kayong downloaded pondo dun. Minsan naman mayroong a little miscommunication, na nag-request na pala kayo ng downloading of funds for that hospital kagaya nga namin, we extend our apologies, last week ko lang nalaman yung case ni Congresswoman Lucy Torres na nagreklamo ng si Cong. Lucy, may representative ba sa office ni Cong. Lucy dito? Please extend our apologies. Kasi nung una, actually last week ko lang nalaman yung ganitong problema nung nag-i-ednorse na nga na sinabi niya sa hospital ng pasyente na sinabihan, wala po kayong pondo dito. So medyo hindi nga maganda ang dating.

It should not have been said. Now kung wala kayong pondo, hindi pa dumating, yun pala yung request nila, yung request niya came in late parang nandudun sa second batch. Yung natanggap ng hospital first batch pa lang. So kung ganung problema, dito kayo para mas mabilis. Habang hinihintay natin yung downloading padala na kaagad kayo ng ano request for medical assistance. Agad-agad ibibigay namin yung guarantee letter. Kasi pag may guarantee letter na dala ang pasyente ninyo, parang PCSO yan, di ba pag dala nila wala nang tanong yung ospital kasi yung guarantee letter good as cash yan. Kumbaga parang SM gift cheque. Okay. The guarantee letter we give it to your office. We send it to your office. Next slide. Next slide. Yung guarantee letter. Okay for those who were asking this is the guarantee letter that we will make. Now kung kunyare buo pa, we will just put it hospital bill. Ilalagay lang namin yung breakdown nung kanya kung may breakdwon. Kung walang breakdown, we just place the hospital bill and the amount. You see PHC 140 yung may number at may mark. Okay that is Philippine Heart Center may corresponding number. That is actually a code. That code will allow us to retrieve the data of the patient. Kaya yung mga nakalagay sa GAA na mga, ito yung mga requirements, yung COA, yung medicines given. That will not be your work. That will be our work. Because that control number will allow us to retrieve all patients’ information from our computer and the computers of the hospital. So yun po yung ibig namin sabihin. So dito tinanggal na rin namin yung pumipirma na si Asec. Gibby Lagahid, Asec. Gibby is kaya nandyadyan siya before kasi siya yung heading PAO office and he’s the EA of Secretary Ona. We also admit na hindi nga maganda tingnan na mayroong ibibigay kayo tapos yung makikita ng pasyente na Asec. Lagahid so nawawalan ngayon ng points na totoo naman na kayo ang nag-facilitate ng pondo. So that’s why the new guarantee letter will just be like this. No signatory. No mention of the secretary of the, no mention of any EA or any personality, yan lang. E-mail namin, just give it. What is important is you give the form that we have, because the hospitals know that when they look at the control number, pasok na kaagad yun. Because that number will be, will corresponding to the amount that we placed there. And that number when it comes to us, compute nang compute na kami. At the end of two weeks alam na namin kung magkano yung ipapadala sa kanila through bank to bank. Yes po? Ay sir, sorry sir.

Question from the audience: Good afternoon Usec.

Usec Garin: Yeah, good afternoon sir.

Question from the audience: Good afternoon distinguished colleagues. My name is Ted Garcia, I am the Congressman of the 2nd district of Bataan, and a former three-term governor. I have no queston but it might help in our discussion if I explain how we were doing it in Bataan. In Bataan, I know the history of devolution because I was the governor there in 1992. And when I saw that the (inaudible) sabi ko this is bound to fail because yung kaakibat na pondo, wala. And so when I had the opportunity to (inaudible), sad to say akala ko okay na, kulang pa rin. And so what we did is about ten years ago, we entered into a MOA with DOH, where lahat ng MOOE ng DOH will be matched by the province on a one-to-one basis. Binibigyan din ho namin ng MOOE pati ho yung lahat ng construction so I think it is succeeding becuase now it is perfectly functioning. And talagang napakaimportante po ng public hospital kasi mas mura sa public hospital and kagaya ho ngayon because of that MOA, lahat ho ng pasyente sa Bataan General Hospital which is a tertiary hospital with a compliment of 300 bed eh nakakpaglibre na kami ng lahat ng gusto naming ilibre.

Usec Garin: Although suggestions are noted sir and in fact we have heard about the arrangement of your hospital. Unfortunately medyo mahirap siya i-implement nationwide nga because of the law of devolution. But ahm, if there is a move to renationalize your services, we will not have any objections..

Question from the audience: But as I was saying, mula nang ma-renationalize ho akala ko wala nang problema because national government na ang in-charge eh andaming pera ng national government, instead of local governments. Yun pala meron pa ring problema and that problem as well when we, pinagtulungan po nam in ng DOH atsaka ng province of Bataan on a one-to-one basis. Yung lahat ng MOOE nila eh minatch namin ng MOOE on a one-to-one basis. Lahat ho ng infrastructure ng construction one-to-one din and so we were able to construct three new, brand new bulding, three, three-storey building connected to each other by a pedestrian bridge. Then ang hospital po namin ISO registered na po. ISO recognized.

Usec Garin: We will take note of those reccomendations po.

Question from the audience: Thank you very much po.

Question from the audience: Good afternoon, Usec, to my colleagues and to everyone present here.

Usec Garin: Hi Cong.

Question from the audience: This is not a question. It is an appeal because I share the same sentiments with Congressman Espina here, and with the other representatives. We also have a hospital run by LGU. So ahm, hindi masyadong kumpleto ang aming supplies and medicines. Tapos minsan ang aming equipments dahil sa dami talaga ng pasyente. Ang record namin 130 patients ang nako-confine. Wala pa yung out patient kasi sa Pasay City, sabi nga ni Secretary Ona when he visited our hospital it’s a melting plot. So ah, if I may suggest Usec. Sana’y if, ahm, if pwedeng gawin yung ginagawa yata ng DOH, please corret me if I am wrong, ginagawa ng DOH sa inyong mga national government, national hospitals, na idina-download na yung pondo, and then pwde ring ilagay na trust fund para hindi magamit kung saang purpose ng local government units at ito po ay for replenishment kasi nga po talagang ah, emergency needs ang mga kailangan ng aming patients. So ganun nga ba ang ano, ang ginagawa na ng DOH sa inyong mga hospitals?

Usec Garin: Actually mam, Actually Cong, for DOH hospitals, the funds are downloaded but they can not use it for procurement of medicines and equipments. It is downloaded there it becomes a trust fund lalo na sa specialty hospitals because of their status as a GOCC. Andudun yung pera, so every patient na pumupunta dun for medical assistance parang china-charge tapos magli-liquidate sila at the end of the month, na ito yung na-cosume ng one month. They come up with a ultilization report submits it to COA and to us and I believe Congress and Senate will also be copied dun sa utilization report nakalagay doon, downloaded funds ahm, patients given services and then amount utilized, so ganun din po. Our dilemma here kasi, in the general appropriations act, the funds were specified, andyadyan po sa budget na inapprove ng kongreso at senado that it is purely for medical assistance. For patients seeking consult in a government health facility.

Yung procurement of equipments at procurement of medicines, hindi siya nasama dun. So when we had several discussions with DBM, and we asked those questions, we were told na baka i-consider. But because there was also the health facilities enhancement fund that is being given to LGUs, kasama na dun yung facilities anf infra, hindi na naisama, ginawa siya na purely for medical assistance. Now ahm, what DBM told us kasi ito na nga tapos na nadyadyan na yung libro. What they told us is that what can be done di ba may pasyente meron naman dun yung binabayad. It’s income that they get. That income. They can now use to procure medicines or equipments whatever they like. So yun yung sinabing proposal. Now, if we download the funds even to LGU hospitals, granting that COA will allow us, I am sure it is still, it will still, still it cannot be used for procurement of equipments and supplies. Pi-pwede lang siya na parang ganun din, everytime may patient, bayad, bawas, bawas.

Question from the audience: Yes Usec, that’s what I meant yun pong ahm pag anndyan na yung patient we will not buy the equiments, supply, para lang yung director ng hospital meron siyang free hand na makagawa ng paraan kung papaano niya maa-answer yung needs nung aming pasyente. Kasi sa aming LGU, although may mga gamot talaga dahil sa dami ng patients, nauubusan din agad. So pag GL ang ibibigay po natin, hindi rin pwedeng ibili right away ng medicines na kakailanganin ng pasyente yung GL. So baka po pipwedeng mapansin.

Usec Garin: We will make the necessary representations and ask for the guidelines for LGU downloading citing nga yung sa DSWD. But then allow us to reiterate na basta pag downloaded sa LGU, hindi na mababawi yun so yung pagda-download siguradong walang problema. Alam natin kasi medyo liquid pa ngayon. Minsan kapag ka end of the year, marami kasi kaming ano eh.

END OF TRANSCRIPT