SEN. Bong Go has expressed concerns regarding the proposed budget for Regional Specialty Centers, cautioning that inadequate funding could hinder the development of these facilities.
The centers are meant to decentralize specialized health care in all regions.
During the Senate plenary deliberations on Tuesday on the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Health (DOH), Go, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, emphasized the importance of Republic Act (RA) 11959, or the Regional Specialty Centers Act.
He said RA 11959, which he principally sponsored and authored during the 19th Congress, represents a significant legislative advancement in improving health care accessibility.
He said the government has established a multiyear plan for the centers by the law, funded in phases to ensure their continuity and effectiveness, reducing the barriers to specialized care and addressing the needs of patients across the provinces.
The envisioned result of the law is that people from the provinces no longer have to travel to Metro Manila, thus saving them transportation costs and logistical issues for families who do not have a place to stay or relatives in the city.
Go raised concerns that the allocation for the centers in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was only P3.5 billion — not enough to ensure uninterrupted construction and operation.
He cited prior discussions with DoH officials who mentioned separate funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) intended to supplement the funding for the centers.
In response, Sen. Pia Cayetano who was sponsoring the health budget, provided details on the status of the specialty centers and the rationale behind the budget allocation.
Cayetano said that only 172 of the 349 designated centers were fully functional. The rest are in various stages of development.
She said the reduced allocation was due in part to the ongoing construction funded by the P11.12 billion appropriated in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Since these funds were still being utilized, additional budget requests were deferred, she said.
Go inquired about the status of the ADB funding, initially allocated as emergency pandemic support but subsequently redirected to support the regional specialty centers.
Cayetano responded that the ADB loan facility was indeed intended for equipment procurement for the centers, but the disbursement awaited standard approvals from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Go questioned the rationale behind the budget reduction from P11 billion in 2024 to P3.5 billion in 2025.
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