In these last few weeks of the Duterte administration the public is being treated to a hagiography of Rodrigo Duterte. Specifically Duterte's men keep repeating a list of his accomplishments. One of these accomplishments is universal health care.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1604050/2-day-legacy-summit-wraps-up-duterte-admin-achievements |
One month before President Rodrigo Duterte steps down from office, members of his Cabinet and other government officials gather on Monday for a two-day summit showcasing his administration’s achievements and accomplishments that changed the lives of Filipinos.
The “Duterte Legacy Summit” at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City wraps up a two-year information drive by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), through its Office of the Global Media and Public Affairs.
The summit features some of the “realized” key campaign promises of the Duterte administration such as the Universal Health Care Law and Malasakit Center, Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education, Bangsamoro Organic Law, the anti-illegal drugs campaign and migrant workers’ protection.
But wait a minute. It turns out that universal health care was not actually realized under the Duterte administration.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/05/10/2180167/next-admin-should-focus-implementation-universal-health-care-doh |
The Department of Health said the next administration should focus on the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act, which seeks to expand people’s access to health services.
In a briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency will brief President Rodrigo Duterte’s successor on its strategies for the implementation of the UHC Act, which was signed into law in 2019.
(When the pandemic started, what we were doing for UHC was temporarily delayed. But it became an opportunity for all of us. We realized toward the end that what we're doing during the pandemic were all attuned to the implementation strategies of UHC.)
The department will also provide the country’s next leaders with its plans for moving forward from the pandemic which is “to live with the virus.”
Universal health care was signed into law but never implemented? Then how did online cockfighting fund it?
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1170051 |
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Thursday said e-sabong or online cockfighting in the country contributes to revenue that can be used to fund the government’s Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
In a speech in Palo, Leyte, Duterte reiterated that the government has earned over PHP640 million monthly since January from the online gambling activity.
“E-sabong gives the government PHP642 million a month. In one year, it gives the government billions,” he said.
Aside from providing funding for hospitals and medicine, he said revenues generated from e-sabong can also be used for education and infrastructure.
Duterte said temporarily closing down the businesses of operators without any violations would be unfair.
“It's not the fault of the management...it's the fault of evil men doing something wrong,” he added.
It did not. Not only was universal healthcare not implemented but the taxes from online cockfighting were never collected.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/21/bir-pagcor-failed-to-get-taxes-from-e-sabong-operations-tolentino/ |
Senator Francis Tolentino on Monday, March 21 chided the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for allegedly failing to withhold the 20 percent tax from the winning profits of online cockfighting (“e-sabong”) operations.
“(It appears that the government doesn’t receive any taxes from the e-sabong industry, unlike, listen BIR, in sweepstakes winnings. In Lotto operations, they get taxes when one wins, right? Even in horse winning. But why is there no tax being taken from e-sabong?)” Tolentino asked during a Senate inquiry on the mysterious disappearances of 34 cockfighting aficionados.
The lawmaker also found that the government earnings from the e-sabong industry, which has been operating for about two years, only came from the regulatory fee being collected by PAGCOR from license operators on every match. A regulatory fee costs only P12,500 per match or “sultada”.
“We are in a state of disarray by letting go of a big amount that should have gone to the coffers of government and used as ‘ayuda’ for drivers, farmers and fisherfolks,” Tolentino said after also finding out that some e-sabong operations only remitted a scant amount of fee from the billions of pesos they would earn monthly.
What more needs to be said? Universal health care was neither implemented nor funded during Duterte's term. He signed the bill on February 20, 2019 which means there was plenty of time between then and now to implement the law. But it was not done. That makes universal healthcare a fake Duterte accomplishment.
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