The new Senate building can wait, but the sick in overcrowded hospitals may die because of utterly inadequate public health facilities.

The poor, the indigent, the sick, the person with a disability, the patients in the hospitals may not be able to wait but die simply because of the utterly inadequate attention and facilities provided them that are far short of what was promised during election time.

If the sick person is a rich man, he alone occupies a big wide room with all the facilities and attendants. If the sick person is a poor man, he is placed in a room of limited space but with an unlimited number of other sick poor men, with only one or two attendants.

What a miserable scene. Why? What is the difference between the rich and the poor when it comes to the enjoyment of the constitutional guarantee of equal and adequate health service for the development of a happy and healthy nation?

The signing of the General Appropriations Act on 20 December will not push through for a thorough review, led by the President himself, according to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Wednesday.

“The review will be led by the President himself, in consultation with the head of the major departments,” he said.

The Executive Secretary said that he could not yet announce the new date of the signing, but he could confirm that certain items and provisions in the national budget would be voted on in the interest of the public welfare, to conform with the fiscal program, and in compliance with laws.

Earlier, the Bicameral Conference Committee approved the report on the proposed P6.325-trillion national budget for 2025. This contains the reconciled and consolidated versions from the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate and House contingents have yet to discuss the changes they made to the budget in detail.

Lawmakers questioned the PhilHealth management for turning the insurance firm into a business enterprise, after learning that the insurance firm, instead of spending its money for social health services and facilities, invested the reserve funds.

On Tuesday, members of the House Committee on Good Government grilled the agency over its P600 billion excess funds even as it faces issues over collection rates and providing benefits to PhilHealth members. This after the Bicameral Committee composed of House and Senate lawmakers which reconciled the two houses’ version of the 2025 national budget, deleted the subsidy to the state insurance firm because of its huge reserve funds.

Meanwhile, on a brighter note, according to PhilHealth president and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., who has a lot of explaining to do to Sen. JV Ejercito, the sponsor of the UHC Act, PhilHealth remains in a very healthy financial state with sufficient reserves and surpluses to sustain operations.

“Despite areas that need significant work, PhilHealth is still a very healthy corporation at the moment,” Ledesma said during a Good Government and Public Accountability hearing at the House of Representatives.

In the proposed 2025 national budget, the bicameral conference committee allocated a zero subsidy for PhilHealth.

This decision was based on PhilHealth’s ample reserves and investment funds, which are deemed sufficient to cover its obligations without additional support.

Ledesma said PhilHealth had a surplus of P150 billion and total reserves of P280 billion as of October 2024. He added that the corporation’s investment funds were nearing P490 billion as of November 2024.

“These figures demonstrate that PhilHealth is firmly robust, well positioned to sustain its operations and fully capable of addressing the health care needs of our 115 million members,” he said.