Press Release - Transcript of Sen. Pia Cayetano's Opening statement

DOH and attached agencies Budget Hearing
October 8, 2024

Okay, we'll start. Settle in, please. Welcome everyone to the hearing of our Subcommittee on the Committee on Finance. I'd like to greet all our resource persons, starting with the Secretary of Health, Dr. Secretary Ted Herbosa; PhilHealth President and CEO Emmanual Ledesma; our National Nutrition Council Executive Director, Azucena Dayanghirang; PITAHC Director General, Ma. Theresa Co-Iñigo; Philippine National Aids Council (PNAC) Executive Director, Joselito R. Feliciano; Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) Executive Director, Vincent Balanag, Jr.; Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC) Executive Director, Sonia Gonzales; National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) Executive Director, Rose Marie Liquete; and Philippine Heart Center (PHC) Executive Director, Avelino Aventura.

On our agenda today are the proposed budgets under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the DOH and its attached agencies and corporations.

For DOH - Office of the Secretary, we have new appropriations of Php 217, 388, 398, 000; For National Nutrition Council, our total is Php 313, 093, 000; Philippine National AIDS Council, total of Php 50, 284, 000; Lung Center of the Philippines, Php 711, 335, 000; for National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Php 1, 486, 886, 000; for Philippine Children's Medical Center, Php 1, 397, 216, 000; for Philippine Heart Center, Php 2, 212, 920, 000; for Philippine Institute for Traditional and Alternative Health Care, Php 154, 726, 000; and for Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Php 74, 431, 930, 000.

Before we start the presentations, I'll just make a short opening statement, since my colleagues are not here yet. I want to tie this into the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 3 is on good health and wellbeing, seeking to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all ages. And then I tie this into the WHO statement, that is, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

I'd like us to be mindful. I chaired the Committee on Health in 2004 for 9 years, since