Rep. Garin flags DOH’s P1-B office beautification fund

Iloilo Representative and former Health secretary Janette Garin on Thursday questioned the Department of Health’s proposed P1 billion allocation for the beautification of its offices, saying the funds should instead be directed to public hospitals and rural health units.

During the House committee on appropriations’ deliberations on the DOH’s 2026 budget, Garin raised concern that the line item in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) was inconsistent with the priorities of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pushed for “zero balance billing” in hospitals.

“Ang gusto ng Presidente, zero balance billing. Ang hinaing naman ng mga hospital, dagdagan ‘yung kanilang pondo kasi lumaki ang kailangan ng mga pasyente. Pero teka, paano nakalusot sa DBM (Department of Budget and Management) na tila meron approximately isang bilyon na… instead na pondo para sa mga hospital at mga RHUs ay nilagay ng DOH pampaganda ng kanilang mga opisina?” Garin asked.

(The President wants zero balance billing. Hospitals, on the other hand, are asking for bigger funds because patient needs have increased. But how did it pass through the DBM that there’s about ?1 billion intended not for hospitals and RHUs, but for beautifying DOH offices?)

The former health secretary stressed that questionable entries in the NEP undermine the President’s policy direction and unfairly shift the blame to Congress.

“In other words, napagbibintangan ang Kongreso sa mga kapalpakan na nangyayari sa budget,” Garin said.

(In other words, Congress is being blamed for the blunders in the budget process.)

She added that even “ghost projects” and “substandard projects” have appeared in past budgets before lawmakers could even deliberate on them.

“‘Yung mga ghost project, ‘yung mga substandard projects na nakita eh lumalabas wala pa sa Kongreso ang nakaraang mga budget, ando-doon na ‘yun sa listahan. So paano natin lilinisin kung ikinalat ang dapat na linisin?” she said.

(The ghost projects and substandard projects already appeared in the budget before it even reached Congress. How can we clean up the budget if the mess has already been spread around?)

Garin lamented that legislators are forced to do “double work” to weed out unnecessary allocations.

“Actually ang pinakamalaking problema ngayon, nagdodoble ang trabaho ng Kongreso kasi hinahanap mo ‘yung mga basurang naipasok sa budget. Eh kung sana maituro na ito ng DBM, mas magiging mabilis ang trabaho ng lahat,” she said.

(The biggest problem now is Congress is doing double work because we have to search for the garbage inserted in the budget. If only DBM had flagged these, everyone’s job would be faster.)

She also raised concern over reports that the DBM simply forwarded budget proposals from agencies without vetting them against the administration’s priorities.

“Kagaya ng DPWH, pinasa daw sa DBM, ang DBM dinaanan lang, hindi na nila tsinek. If that is the case, it’s very troubling. Kasi paano kung meron kaming hindi nakita? Siyempre ang dagok nito kay Pangulong Bongbong Marcos,” Garin said.

(Like in the case of DPWH, they said it was submitted to DBM and DBM just let it pass without checking. If that is the case, it’s very troubling. Because if there’s something we miss, the blame ultimately falls on President Marcos.) —AOL, GMA Integrated News