Susan’s Notes
By Susan Palmes-Dennis
ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina—As a semi-retired media practitioner—weekly ‘podcaster’ and occasional columnist at a local daily in Cagayan de Oro City—for years since immigrating to the US in the mid 2000s, I’ve watched three Philippine presidents deliver their annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) for each of their six year terms.
The latest being President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., his fourth address delivered last July 28 and already it sounded and felt like a grueling, over-extended marathon with seemingly no end in sight of promises made and remade, the usual recitation of accomplishments and more promises in his remaining three years of office.
Only two things stood out for me concerning PBBM’s address: the President’s condemnation of substandard infrastructure flood control projects and his threat to publish the names of contractors and officials involved in said projects; and two, the President’s repeated assurance of a ‘zero billing’ for patients confined in government hospitals under the Department of Health (DOH).
The substandard infrastructure projects debacle is an age-old issue that Filipinos continually grapple with at both the national and local levels. The floods that struck Luzon and the resulting destruction of properties and loss of lives is yet another sad testament on the government’s failure to institute sufficient resiliency mitigation measures that would have reduced the incidence of deaths and destruction on the hardest hit areas.
Yes climate change and other environmental factors contributed to the worsening flooding and extreme weather changes but it’s always been the local and national governments that the people look up to for protection and assistance. The same cycle of events that occur whenever these floods occur cast serious doubts on the government’s efforts to demand accountabiliy from all agencies involved especially the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
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On that ‘zero billing’ promise for patients admitted in government hospitals, PBBM need not reiterate the obvious since the government already enacted into law the Universal Health Care Act. Say what you will about the past administration but at least it had the foresight to establish ‘Malasakit’ Centers that fund costly treatments and operations for critically ill indigent patients.
What we seriously lack is a definitive roadmap towards achieving a truly workable health care program for the country. And to be fair, universal health care much like socialized housing, agrarian reform and educational assistance are pipe dreams that are way beyond reach for a Third World country like the Philippines. With all that debt servicing plus the corruption, it’s a real wonder how democracy survives in this part of the world.
Universal health care is such an ideal that even First World countries like the US and parts of Europe and Asia are unable to fully achieve this status. Leftist liberal socialist critics who continue to harangue and berate the US for everything wrong in the world including the US government’s supposed failure to institute a universal health care system for its citizens even with federal laws like Obamacare.
These closet and openly declared leftist liberals also engage in worshipping communist countries like Cuba and point to European countries like Norway, Denmark and Finland as proof that a universal health care system run entirely by the government actually works. Never mind if these Euro countries benefitted economically by way of reduced defense budget spending due to NATO protection.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is funded largely by the US which under President Donald Trump called on NATO powers like Great Britain, France and Italy for bigger contributions to the group. But I’m digressing here. Only the oil-rich countries like Kuwait, Brunei and Saudi Arabia can afford to provide funding for universal health care to its citizens and visitors and it’s only through paying all medical costs since hospital care and confinement are outsourced to the US and Europe.
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Speaking of which, the impending and expected signing by President BBM of the bill delaying the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to next year could be a source of disappointment and annoyance to recently elected Councilor and former Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president Yan Lam Lim.
This means he may have to wait until next year until incumbent ABC representative to the City Council, Gusa Barangay Captain Marlo Tabac is replaced by someone favorable to the incumbent administration. For now, Lim presented charges of alleged corruption against Tabac which he maintains are sufficient grounds to kick Tabac out of the City Council.
But the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) isn’t entertaining these moves due to the succession rule in which Tabac, as ABC vice president succeeds Lim in the City Council. As Tabac previously mentioned, he will be a ‘rainbow’ ABC president entertaining both the administration and opposition camps though the photos of him administering the oath taking of Councilor Yvey Emano strongly indicate otherwise.
In any case, Tabac’s retention for now in the City Council will be adequate news fodder for the local media which is salivating over this political development as it is an indication that not everything is as blissful and quiet in the local landscape as what the incumbent administration would want the public to believe. And we do need some responsible fiscalizers to check the council majority.
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