Public service: Kuya Bong’s ‘addiction’
About 152 Malasakit Centers are now operating nationwide, with more than three million patients served since the program began in 2018.
“Ang aking bisyo ay magserbisyo.” This was Senator Bong Go’s favorite campaign slogan in the early years of public service.
But even prior to being elected as lawmaker, he had been true to his word of serving people, especially the poor.
Go, a native of Davao City, was Special Assistant to the President with the rank of Secretary to then-President Rodrigo Duterte from 30 June to 15 October 2018. People fondly called him “Kuya Bong,” especially when he was elected senator in 2019.
He had previously worked with Duterte for years when the latter was mayor of Davao City.
As SAP, Go spearheaded the establishment all over the country of Malasakit Centers, which brought together the offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office under one roof to ease access to government financial and medical assistance, among poor and indigent patients.
Unwavering commitment
The policy on the Malasakit Center was codified into law when Go as senator.
He principally authored and sponsored Republic Act 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019 in the 18th Congress of the Philippines, with the primary aim of reducing hospital bills to the lowest amount by covering various patient services and expenses.
About 152 Malasakit Centers are now operating nationwide, with more than three million patients served since the program began in 2018.
Go, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, has vowed to provide Filipinos easy access to hospitals and other health facilities. He has always urged hospitals to prioritize poor patients, particularly those who have nowhere to turn to.
“It is for this reason that I continue to prioritize improving the delivery of key public services, especially health care — in keeping with President Duterte’s commitment to provide a more responsive and compassionate government by bringing it closer to the needy,” Go previously said.
Indeed, the Malasakit Centers have become a solution for qualified patients to provide for their healthcare needs.
Go is pushing for the possible employment of Malasakit Center patients or immediate family and their inclusion in the 4Ps program — subject to qualification by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Balik Probinsya
Aside from the landmark Malasakit Center Act, Go was also the brains behind the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa or BP2 Program, which was implemented at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 — as a resolution for stranded probinsyano (provincial natives) who lost their jobs or have been residing in slum areas in Metro Manila and struggling with the health crisis.
Duterte signed Executive Order 114 institutionalizing the BP2 program in 2020 with the primary objective of addressing the provincial natives’ problems in Metro Manila.
Through the BP2 program, which provides whole-of-nation assistance through its implementing member agencies, the government was able to introduce a rationalized system of fiscal incentives for export-oriented and domestic-oriented enterprises, as well as support for micro, small and medium enterprises.
Go is still hopeful that the Marcos administration will consider the benefits of the Balik Probinsya program in the next several years.
Piority measures
Go has also pushed for various legislations including the increased salaries of nurses, mandatory positions with salaries for Barangay Health Workers, free medicines, and improved health care for senior citizens, as well as the establishment of more health stations and rural health centers nationwide.
He is also eyeing the establishment of TienDA Malasakit Stores in select cities, as well as the improvement of government support and increased agricultural inputs for small farmers, such as machinery, fertilizers, seeds, irrigation, and low-interest credit facility.
Go is also pushing for agri-partnership for increased household income of farmers, better incentives for children of farmers, the establishment of the National Farmers and Fishers Pension Fund, the inclusion of barangay agriculture in the public school curriculum, and the provision of storage facilities similar to food terminals.
He also supports the establishment of more rehabilitation and reformation centers for illegal drug users nationwide, as well as the creation of the National Senior Citizens Commission.
He likewise wants the provision of free medicines to all senior citizens, and an increase in the budget for the Social Pension Fund to cover more indigent elders.
Go is also keen on proposing measures that will benefit Filipinos, including the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience.
He wants an improved Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and to expand support for medium, small and micro enterprises.