House Bill no. 6069 and Senate Bill no. 3130

OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILL 6069 AND SENATE BILL NO. 3130

House Bill No. 6069 pertains to, “AN ACT CONVERTING GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS INTO NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL CORPORATIONS PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFORE, and AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”; while Senate Bill 3130 pertains to, “AN ACT INSTITUTING A CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFORE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”

• That the said Bills include among others the corporatization of the 26 retained DOH Hospitals and Medical Centers including the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center;

• That the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center is the only tertiary hospital serving the constituents of two administrative regions of  Region XII and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the City of Cotabato;

• That, Region XII and ARMM are regions where majority of the people are marginalized, and displaced by the continuing armed conflict. The maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are its highest due to poverty and inadequate health care delivery. Cotabato Regional and Medical Center is the only tertiary hospital that serves the poor;

• That, corporatization or privatization of Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, would mean that the government discharge its responsibility of providing health to all and deprive the people of its constitutional right to health care;
• That, depriving the people of Region XII and ARMM of tertiary health services because of high cost is a neglect of the government and would worsen the poor condition of the people;
• That, corporatization of the hospital is a step towards privatization or even a form of privatization. Privatization would mean that the ownership in control public functions is transferred in a whole or in part to a private operator. The primary objective is profit for the owner, among other things and this necessitates an avoidance of customers who cannot pay to maximize between revenues and costs;

• That, engaging in so called Public Private Partnership as the main engine for growth and development denies the poor of their rights to health and financial freedom. It further deprives the employees of the government of their security of tenure and a threat to their employment;
• That, House Bill 6069 and Senate Bill 3130 slowly put patients to coma and killing through overt euthanasia the dedicated and committed hospital employees;

  President Benigno S. Aquino III’s Universal Health Care Program is no different from the previous government’s health policy. “It is a continuation of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank recipes of Health Sector Agenda and the FourMula One for Health. The Universal Health Care program boasts of the Public-Private Partnership Program and the Philippine Health Insurance Program as its two main pillars,” Robert Mendoza, secretary general of Alliance of Health Workers, said. Health groups said Aquino has surpassed its predecessor in its aggressiveness to privatize government hospitals and public health care services under its euphemistic slogan of “Universal Health Care for All.” Mendoza cited the fast tracking of House Bill 6069 or An Act Creating National Government Hospital Corporations filed by Bacolod Rep. Anthony Rolando Golez, Jr., which has been passed by the Committee on Health in the House of Representatives last May 16. The bill proposed to corporatize 26 DOH retained hospitals; among these public hospitals are San Lazaro Hospital, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Veterans Regional Hospital, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Zamboanga City Medical Center among many others. In the Senate, Sen. Franklin Drilon filed Senate Bill 3130 or the National Government Hospital Corporate Restructuring Act, which also has the same content as HB 6069. These are all strongly opposed by progressive groups. Aquino also placed the Philippine Orthopedic Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, the Eversley Child Sanitariam in Metro Cebu and 21 more regional hospitals under PPP projects for “modernization and improving of health facilities and services” with the promised return in investment in revenue sharing, lease fees per treatment with diagnostic equipment. “The Aquino government is reneging on its responsibility to adequately provide for public hospitals by reducing subsidy and corporatizing public hospitals. Corporatization of public hospitals is privatization by another name. This will increase the cost of health services and further aggravate the present dismal plight of our poor patients and health workers,” Mendoza said. bulatlat.com

Reaksyon:

Una sa lahat, maganda naman ang panukalang ito ng Pangulo na gawing pribado ang mga ospital sa bansa. Tunay na mapagaganda nga naman nito ang mga dating pasilidad na halos di na magamit pa. Ngunit hindi magandang epekto nito sa nakararami lalo na sa mga mahihirap nating kababayan. Maganda nga ang pasilidad, mahal naman ang singil. Kung ang lahat ay may sapat na kita lamang na sasapat sa pangangailangan ng ating pamilya, wala na sanang magiging problema. Kaso, malayo na ata mangyari itong sinasabi ko. Sa panahon ngayon, baligtad na ang kalagayan ng nakararami. Kung sino pa ang nanay, siya pa ang naghahanap-buhay. At kung sino pa ang tatay, siya pa ang nasa bahay. Ano ba naman yun? Tapos kung sino pa ang nakapagtapos, madalas sila pa ang walang trabaho. At kung sino pa ang walang tinapos, sila pa ang may trabaho. Kung ako ang nasa kalagayan ng mga mahihirap, magpoprotesta rin ako laban sa gobyerno na wag nang ituloy itong pagsasapribado ng ospital. Sa ngayon, wala pa tayong magagawa kundi kumbinsihin ang gobyerno na wag nang ituloy. Pwede rin namang ituloy ito ngunit dapat magarantiya ang nakararami lalo na sa mga mahihirap na may benepisyo at diskwento sila na kapos sa pera na pambayad upang gumanda na ang pasilidad sa ospital habang nakagagamit pa sa magandang serbisyong ito ang lahat ng Pilipino. Huwag sana tayong maging makasarili. Lawakan ang ating pag-iisip at huwag gawing komplikado at 

makitid sa pagdedesisyon. Unahin natin lagi ang kapakanan at ikabubuti ng nakararami upang kapayapaan ang umiral at kaguluhan ay maiwaksi na.

-This is Mimi Signing Off....

May PEACE reign in the World! ^_^