Drilon: Go panel sat on hospital bills for over a year

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday told Senator Bong Go that it was not his interpellation that delayed the passage of 15 bills, which sought to increase the bed capacity of hospitals.

Drilon said it was Go's Committee on Health which failed to act on the measures for more than a year.

Before Drilon took the floor to ask, Go, chair of the Senate committee on health and sponsor of the bills, manifested anew that the opposition senator was apparently delaying the passage of the measures, which will help the local hospitals increase their operating capacity.

This did not sit well with the minority leader, who retorted he was supposed to terminate the interpellations but was “compelled to set the record straight” following Go’s manifestation.

“I am compelled to make this manifestation which will delay again the deliberation on this bill because of the very clear implications of statements of the good sponsor, again appealing to emotion, but at the same time criticizing the Senate or this representation for causing delay. And I refer to previous session wherein the good sponsor said 'Bakit niyo pa pinapatagal itong pag-approve ng bills na ito',” Drilon said.

“I examined the records and to my surprise, I found out that these measures that we have been debating on have been pending in the Senate for 15 months. Labing limang buwan po naka-tengga sa Senado dahil ‘di ginagalaw ng kumite itong panukalang batas na magdadagdag ng hospital beds sa ating mga hospital,” Drilon quipped.

He cited House Bill 2583 which increases the bed capacity of the lying-in clinic in Rizal, Palawan which was referred to Go’s committee on January 20, 2020 but was only heard by the panel after 10 months. The bill was sponsored in the plenary last May 17.

“Kawawa naman po ang nakatira sa Rizal, Palawan, nag-antay po sila ng labinglimang buwan at ‘di dahilan sa ating pagtatanong ngunit dahilan ito po ay hindi inaksyunan ng kumite,” he said.

(We pity the people in Rizal, Palawan who are waiting for 15 months not because of my interpellations but because of the committee’s inaction.)

Drilon further mentioned three measures that were not tackled by the Health Committee immediately including House Bill 5870 or the bill establishing the Neptali Gonzales General Hospital which was referred to the committee on January 29, 2020.

The committee report for the said bill was only released on February 15, 2021 and was sponsored last May 17.

“We would like to place on record that all these bills have been pending in the Senate and in the committee since last year, but were reported out only last week,” he said.

“Bakit po inabot ng 15 months bago dalhin sa plenary? Kaya ko po gusto liwanagin, hindi po dahilan sa ating pagtatanong na natatagalan po… Kung tayo po ay concerned sa buhay ng ating mga kababayan e dapat po noon agad. Isang taong nakalipas e dapat nagawa na natin ito,” he pointed out.

(Why did it take 15 months before it was reported out to the plenary? We want to clarify. It is not my interpellation which delays its passage. If we are really concerned with the lives of our people, then we should have acted on these bills last year.)

Drilon also raised that the funding for these hospital bills should have been included in the 2021 national budget. However, the bills were not yet passed into law. Hence, there is no legal mandate for the Congress to appropriate funds for it.

“The committee has every opportunity to pass these measures before December or before we approve the 2021 budget last December of 2020 and therefore could have been included in the 2021 General Appropriations Act. Unfortunately, the committee sat on these bills,” he said.

Drilon added that he is raising questions even on bills declaring holidays in the country as this will affect the workers and the economy.

“This is the job of the minority leader. It would be a remiss of my duty as minority leader kung di tayo magtatanong. Mali naman siguro na 'Yes, sir. Yes, Ma’am' na lang ang ating sistema sa  Senado,” he said.

“Tayo po ang mananagot sa taong bayan kung may maling batas na lumusot na batas sa Kongreso,” he added.

(We will be held accountable to the people if there are loopholes in the laws that we pass in Congress.)

Go denied that his committee sat on the measures.

He cited local government resolutions, consultations with the Executive Department, and the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the delay.

Drilon then asked Go to answer directly that it was not him who caused the delay but the inaction of the committee.

Go did not directly reply to Drilon’s question and instead he said: “Nasa pandemya po tayo at ayaw po nating may masayang na oras and I know you have a good heart to help our fellow Filipinos.”

(We are in the midst of the pandemic and we don’t want to waste time and I know you have a good heart to help our fellow Filipinos.)

Drilon tried to press Go to answer, but failed anew.

The debate between the two senators started last week when Go expressed frustration over Drilon’s line of questioning on the bills seeking to increase the bed capacity of 15 local hospitals.

Drilon raised the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court, which stated in 2018 that local governments' internal revenue allotments would be sourced from all revenues collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

However, Go argued that the local government units' budget cannot shoulder the expenses to build hospitals, adding that the national government must step in to help in construction of health facilities.

Go refuses Drilon's amendments 

Meanwhile, the Senate Minority Leader proposed amendments in House Bill 2582 which seeks to increase the hospital bed capacity of lying-in clinic in Rizal, Palawan from 10 to 20 beds.

Drilon said under the bill, which has remained pending in the Senate Committee on Health for over a year, the government of Palawan seeks a budget of P8 million from the national government to fund the increase of bed capacity.

With this, Drilon proposed that the capital outlay in lying-in clinic "will be sourced from miscellaneous fund and pension of gratuity fund under 2020 and 2021 General Appropriation Act."

Go refused the amendments proposed by Drilon. He said: "We don't accept the amendments per advise the DBM (Department of Budget and Management.)"

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri asked Go DBM's advice but the latter instead asked for suspension of the session.

Subsequently, Zubiri said he will ask the DBM to come up with a particular fund to come up with an identified fund source on the said local hospital bill.

As they await advice from DBM, the chamber suspended the consideration of the measure.—LDF, GMA News