{"id":275952,"date":"2020-11-19T21:05:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T02:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=275952"},"modified":"2020-11-19T21:05:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T02:05:55","slug":"doh-ready-with-guidelines-for-release-of-pagcor-funds-for-uhc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/19\/doh-ready-with-guidelines-for-release-of-pagcor-funds-for-uhc\/","title":{"rendered":"DOH ready with guidelines for release of Pagcor funds for UHC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The operational guidelines that would allow the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to remit billions of pesos to the Department of Health (DOH) for the Universal Health Care (UHC) program are being finalized, Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday. (PNA File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The operational guidelines that would allow the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to remit billions of pesos to the Department of Health (DOH) for the Universal Health Care (UHC) program are being finalized, Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that the guidelines would only need the signatures of Pagcor and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).<\/p>\n

\u201cAng mabuting balita, dahil siyempre tinanong natin ang<\/em>\u00a0DOH,\u00a0eh mayroon na naman daw silang napagkasunduan, ng<\/em>\u00a0DOH\u00a0at ng<\/em>\u00a0PhilHealth\u00a0at nag-aantay na ito ng<\/em>\u00a0signature\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0PCSO\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0Pagcor (The good news is, because we asked the DOH, they have arrived at an agreement, the DOH and PhilHealth, and they\u2019re only waiting for the signature of PCSO and Pagcor),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque, one of the principal authors of the UHC bill in Congress, vowed to ensure that the law that grants health coverage for all Filipinos would be properly implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuwag po kayong mag-alala. Habang buhay po ako, sisiguraduhin nating mapatupad nang tama iyong<\/em>\u00a0Universal Health Care\u00a0na ating sinulong.<\/em>\u00a0Promise\u00a0po iyan<\/em>\u00a0(Don\u2019t worry. So long as I\u2019m alive, I\u2019ll make sure that the Universal Health Care, which I championed, will be implemented),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Under the UHC law, half of the national government’s share from Pagcor’s income, as well as 40 percent of the charity fund of the PCSO, should be used to fund the program.<\/p>\n

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson earlier criticized the DOH for failing to craft the guidelines that would allow billions of pesos from Pagcor to be remitted to the UHC program.<\/p>\n

“Nanghihinayang kasi ako sa<\/em>\u00a0PHP17 billion,\u00a0kasi<\/em>\u00a0without the operational guidelines,\u00a0nasa<\/em>\u00a0Bureau of Treasury\u00a0lang ‘yung<\/em>\u00a0remittance\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Pagcor,\u00a0‘yung<\/em>\u00a0share\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0government (I feel bad about the PHP17 billion because without the operational guidelines, the remittances of Pagcor are stuck at the Bureau of Treasury),” he said.<\/p>\n

With the guidelines now finished, the next step is for the departments of budget and finance to review the documents.<\/p>\n

The UHC law, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019, automatically enrolls all Filipino citizens, including overseas Filipino workers in PhilHealth, which will have an expanded coverage to include free consultation fees, laboratory tests, and other diagnostic services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law guarantees equitable access to quality and affordable health care services for all Filipinos,\u201d Duterte said in his speech.<\/p>\n

It also aims to improve the doctor-to-patient ratio, upgrade hospital bed capacities and equipment, and establish more hospitals in remote areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The operational guidelines that would allow the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to remit billions of pesos to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":275953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275952"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275955,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275952\/revisions\/275955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}