PhilHealth cards won't carry Aquino's photo

MANILA, Philippines - Membership cards to be issued by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), including those to be handed out during its national registration this weekend, will not bear the photo of President Aquino.

And because the government would not want the cards to be used for political purposes as they were in the past, concerned agencies said photos of other officials and local executives shall not appear on the ID cards.

“It was particularly President Aquino who said he did not want his photo on those cards,” Health Assistant Secretary Gerardo Bayugo said yesterday.

“The photo of (Health) Secretary (Enrique) Ona will also not come out there. All the more, local officials cannot use the cards (to campaign). We want this to be a very apolitical campaign,” Bayugo said.

But local politicians may find a way to use the cards to promote themselves, especially with the coming barangay elections.

Raymond Acoba, a spokesman for PhilHealth, said there had been instances in the past when local politicians put “jackets” on the cards with their names on them as the cards were distributed.

Vincent Leyson, director of the Social Welfare Department’s National Household Targeting System, cautioned that the lists of indigent residents provided by local government units are being verified by their office.

According to Acoba, the agency is distributing 90,603 PhilHealth IDs for Metro Manila alone on Saturday based on the list of indigent residents provided by the DSWD.

PhilHealth has five programs targeting different sets of clients: the employed, the non-paying clients, the sponsored ones, the families of OFWs, and the individually paying clients.

At the moment, the agency has some 20.1 million members, representing 85 percent coverage, according to Acoba.

This Saturday’s national registration follows the President’s pronouncement that he wanted 100 percent coverage in the PhilHealth program, said Bayugo.

There will be registration sites all over the country. In Metro Manila, there will be 19 sites or one per city or municipality.