Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Ray Florence Reyes urged Congress to restore the 500 million pesos earmarked for Cancer Assistance Fund (CAF) under the Department of Health (DOH) after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed it from the agency’s 2023 proposed budget.
In the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the line-item budget for the CAF fund was removed under the Social Health Protection Program which had a 787-million pesos earmark from last year.
In the Philippines, 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos are afflicted with cancer, while four Filipinos die of cancer every hour. The passage of RA 11215 is a landmark legislation for the prevention and improvement of cancer treatment in the country.
“This is against RA 11215 which was passed into law in 2019. Cancer is a top health concern in the country yet the budget for it has been removed. To honor the memory of those who’ve succumbed to the disease, and to recognize the courage of those who continue to fight cancer, I call for its restoration,” Rep. Reyes stated.
The act known as the “National Integrated Cancer Control Act” states in Section 20 that the established CAF will support cancer medicine and treatment assistance for cancer patients.
“In fact, fund request for the CAF is already lowered to 500 million from over 700 million in the current fiscal year, but it was still removed. There has been a delay in its implementation due to COVID-19 and yet DBM removed it. What was the passage of the bill for?” Rep. Reyes said.
In the Philippines, 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos are afflicted with cancer, while four Filipinos die of cancer every hour. The passage of RA 11215 is landmark legislation for the prevention and improvement of cancer treatment in the country.
