The two-thirds cut in the proposed budget of the Department of Health, specifically the allocation for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program, should be restored, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said Sunday.
In a statement, Recto said the HFEP is “the cure for the insufficient and deteriorating facilities in public hospitals.”
The HFEP budget this year is P15.9 billion, the senator said.
“But how much was prescribed by the DBM for HFEP for 2020? P5.9 billion. Two-thirds was slashed. It is the budgetary equivalent of cutting the calorie intake of a malnourished child,” Recto said.
He said the “usual reason” given for the deep cut is the DOH’s failure to spend its funds on time.
“But some agencies have worse fund utilization rates than the DOH, yet, have not been punished with a budget cut,” Recto said.
The same bogey—procurement—is being used again. But the projects in the HFEP menu are not hard to procure.
He said that in previous years, HFEP funds were for “sunk-in-the-ground projects,” like buildings, and were bugged by delays.
But for next year, the “spending theme” is equipment, some of which are off-the-shelf items which can be easily purchased.
Recto added that these are not “Build, Build, Build” items which cost billions of pesos.
In the first page of the HFEP list of projects in 2020 national budget, there will only be P150,000 worth of equipment to be distributed to 43 Barangay Health Stations in Abra, Apayao, Benguet.
In fact, in that list were BHS with only P27,000 allocation.
The entire HFEP budget for all LGU-run hospitals is P657 million.
Recto said that under this category, many frontline hospitals will receive a measly P500,000 each for new equipment.
Even large hospitals directly operated by the DOH will receive a pittance, like the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, earmarked P75 million in HFEP money.
At this level of funding, the usual “absorptive capacity” excuse cannot be invoked. Even doubling the amount will not make procurement work twice as hard.
To avoid any problem, he said the DOH can download funds to local governments based on a menu.
“And if the latter will offer counterpart financing, then there will be more funds to buy more equipment.”
Recto added that government should budget based on what the people need. It cannot be reduced to a spreadsheet exercise, lifted from a foreign-funded budgeting manual.
“Puno ang mga ospital natin ngayon, mahaba ang pila, kulang ang kagamitan, salat sa gamot. At yan ay hindi nakikita sa anumang accounting ledger.”
