So generous -- with our money

Even with the nation watching, lawmakers have an incorrigible need to get their patronage programs bankrolled by taxpayers.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

The House of Representatives proposed P49 billion for the politicized health ayuda, MAIFIP, which the Senate initially cut to P29 billion.

MAIFIP stands for Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients. People need an endorsement or guarantee letter from lawmakers and other politicians for MAIFIP access.

This health pork barrel, whose funding should instead go to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) where politicians have no say, got P51 billion on the first day of the bicameral conference last Saturday — up from the P42 billion this year.

With the passage of the health pork barrel plus funds for farm-to-market roads and the Tulong Dunong tertiary education subsidy, Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon chair Panfilo Lacson said he would not sign the budget bill.

Last May, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco told me that the House leadership stopped the release of MAIFIP to the constituents of congressmen who would not sign the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. The move was carried out after a long period of tepid interest within the super majority in pursuing the impeachment.

Ousted Senate president Chiz Escudero was correct in pointing out that the House did not act forthwith on the impeachment, approving and sending the complaint on the same day to the Senate, just moments before Congress adjourned for the election campaign on Feb. 5.

Several of the congressmen and senators now pushing for a higher budget for MAIFIP in 2026 were members of the previous 19th Congress. If these opportunistic bleeding hearts truly care about public health and the Universal Health Care Act, why did they go along with impounding P89.9 billon in imaginary excess funds from PhilHealth in 2024, in violation of the UHC law, and giving the state health insurer zero subsidy this year?