Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza has hailed the Department of Budget Management (DBM) for announcing of the release of the P529.2 million cancer assistance fund (CAF).
The CAF was approved for release following a joint memorandum between the DBM and the Department of Health (DOH) which clarified the funds’ implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
In a statement Wednesday, Oct. 12, Daza said that the DBM and DOH “deserve praise for acting quickly upon our call to have the cancer assistance fund ready for implementation".
The House leader said this paves the way for free cancer and healthcare treatments in the Philippines.
During previous House deliberations on the DOH budget, Daza urged the immediate release and utilization of the P529 million CAF in the current 2022 national budget.
After Daza’s questions regarding the CAF, DOH OIC-Secretary Dr. Rosario Vergiere personally assured Daza and the rest of the house that the CAF will immediately be used to help needy cancer patients.
The return of the CAF, according to Daza, “is good momentum for the development of more policies that can widen the scope of the Cancer Control Act and our Universal Healthcare Act".
“I hope this spirit of cooperation continues and we keep the ball rolling towards affordable and even free treatment of this disease and others. We must never let our fellow Filipinos feel alone in the fight against cancer," the Visayas solon said.
Before the DBM-DOH joint memorandum, budget earmarks for CAF were missing from the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP) or proposed national budget.