Is it Fair?

LASTSunday, most Filipinos were watching our national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, playing their heart out in their quest to snatchi ng t he most coveted FIBA Asi a champi onship cr own. Unf or t unately, our cagers landed second and bagged only the silver medals.

Never t hel ess, i t w as a tw o thumbs up performance despite the fact that our national players are physically outsized by most of their contender s l i ke I r an, Chinese Tai pei, and South Korea, among others. Our consolation, however, is that at least the team has severed the curse brought about by the Korean team for the past several years, and that, they have already grabbed a sure ticket in FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain next year.

During the game, we had seen that our country stood still and momentarily freed us from political bickering among our local and national politicians. Seldom can we see Filipinos unite! Does it show that it is impossible for our leaders to come together and brush aside all the squabbling? Is it impracticable for them to stop fighting with each other? Or will it remain an elusive dream? Listen to Congressman Evelio Leonardia and Mayor Monico Puentevella with all their wrangling. Aren’t you tired of it? If only our leaders in Bacolod City and other local government units in Negros Occidental would stop pointing their accusing fingers to each other, then and only then we can say that we are indeed united.

Let us show to the world that we can be together, regardless of our political affiliations, religious differences, color or creed. Let us prove to the world that we can be united to fight our own battles.

Tal k i ng about spor t s, Mayor Monico Puentevella has disclosed that he wanted to promote sports tourism in Bacolod by bringing different sports disciplines in the city. In fact he mentioned that the hosting of a gol f tournament, t o be participated in by the amateur and professional golfers both here and abroad, is already in place. In addition, the Philippine Sports Com- mission is working out to bring the Davis Cup in the city provided that a court will be put up that is at par with inter nati onal standar d. Furthermore, football fans are also expected to f i l l up the Panaad Sports Stadium during the match between the Philippine Azkals and Kazakhst an’s boot er s whi ch is slated this October in connection with the celebration of MassKara Festival.

What do we gain from all these? Wil l spor ts touri sm t ri gger economic activities? Will it increase the Gross Domestic Product of the city? Will it generate income among entrepreneurs and local businessmen?

In the fourth State of the Nation Address of the President, he made ment ion that hi s admi nist rat ion would request the assistance of the Government Service Insurance System ( GSIS) to fulfill the obligations of the State for the payment of pensions to our retired policemen and soldiers.

I find this plan unfair and illogical. Beyond a shadow of doubt, government employees have been paying faithfully their monthly contribut i ons just t o make sur e t hat when they retire from public service, they will be receiving their monthly pensions. I believe member s of t he Phi l i ppi ne Nat i onal Police ( PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines ( AFP) have their own separ at e pension schemes outside the financial expertise and management of GSIS and SSS. For the record, PNP and AFP personnel are not members of GSIS and that they are not contributing to the funds of the said government-controlled corporation. They used to be a member of GSIS, nonetheless, they opted to severe their ties with the said office in the past, for them to come up with a government-con- t r ol l ed cor por at i on that woul d handle the monthly pensions of the said stated personnel.

As members of GSIS, will you allow this to happen? Will you allow our government to take a portion of your funds to finance the pensions of the PNP and AFP servicemen?

Government Servi ce Insurance System, with its financial specialists, has obser ved ext raordi nary diligence in reinvesting both here and abroad the contributions of the members, and in making sure that the fund will remain liquid to pay i t s ci vi l obl i gat i ons. The gai ns earned from the supposed investments will form part of the retirement funds that will pay the pension of the State workers when they opt to retire from government service.

Our government should find a logical means to solve this problem.

Another issue that is worthy to be discussed is the hospital coverage of PhilHealth, a governmentowned and controlled corporation.

I hope I can comprehensively tackle t his i ssue i n some fut ure time because I still have to make a comprehensive i nvestigat ion relevant to this topic.

Anyway, just to give you a little idea. We know PhilHealth provides subsidies for our hospital room, medi ci nes, and l abor at or y expenses, among others for the conf inement of members wi thi n 24 hours. As paying members, we are entitled to a fixed amount paid by Philhealth to an accredited medical provider where we are hospitalized. The medical and surgical procedur es admi ni st er ed ar e bei ng paid through a fixed rate, regardless of the amount of monthly premium. The rate is based on the special benefit package issued by the said corporation last September 11, 2011.

For instance, a member was hospitalized for dengue, he wil l be entitled to a subsidy amounting to P8,000 if the said case is classified

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