Health sector to PNoy: We will never PORKget how the pork barrel system squeezed the life out of every single Filipino

Members of the health sector-led Rx: Abolish Pork Barrel System! Movement decried the administration’s attempt to cover-up the terminal condition called graft and corruption that gradually kills the nation despite a “new scheme” on pork barrel fund transfers to line agencies. The group said the move is artificial and a mere Band-Aid solution to appease mass discontent on the issue of PDAF.

Dr. Darby Santiago, the movement’s co-convener said that the measly P3.691 billion allotted from the Legislature and Office of the Vice President (OVP) PDAF Realignment to the Department of Health (DOH), what Malacañang dubs as the new scheme, is a “mere crumb” which cannot even be considered as a “slice from the budget pie.”

The amount, he said, is comparable to “giving a crying child a small candy to appease her anguish.” “What the government refuses to recognize is that the child cries because her basic needs aren’t met and a candy is not enough to meet those needs,” Dr. Santiago lamented.

Meanwhile, the group also slammed DOH Secretary Ona’s statements that the new scheme will make fund acquisition in public hospitals “easier and more equitable for the poor.” However, Dr. Santiago repudiated this by saying the new scheme does NOT totally remove legislators’ discretion by submitting recommendation letters to concerned agencies. “The scheme will still perpetuate patronage politics and graft and corruption,” he added.

Dr. Santiago noted that the current public health system under President Aquino and Sec. Ona “will NEVER be easier and equitable because they are hell bent in privatizing public hospitals in favor of big local and foreign investors” such as the sale of the Philippine Orthopedic Center and 25 other public hospitals. Due to lack of funds, other hospitals also face problems that could permanently halt their services such as the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) which was reported to have been facing ‘eviction’ orders if they will not be able to acquire the 3.7 ha property priced at P1.1 B where the hospital stood for 34 years.

The group said that “giving up PDAF in all its forms is such a herculean task for the government because some government officials are using their positions to amass and protect their wealth.”

In conclusion, Rx: Abolish Pork Barrel System! Movement called for the abolition of the pork barrel system, prosecution and punishment of all conniving congressmen, senators, and other public officials, and re-channel of all pork barrel funds to social services. Rx: Abolish Pork Barrel System! Movement is a loose formation of health professionals, health workers, health science students and people’s health advocates.##

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Reference:


Dr. Darby Santiago
0927-9259413/ (02)929-8109
Co-convener, Rx: Abolish Pork Barrel System! Movement