History repeats itself

Those before us liked to say that we must study history so that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and heed the lessons as we move toward the future.

The other day, I flipped through the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino’s compilation of speeches titled, “A Garrison State in the Making and Other Speeches.” These were mostly delivered in Congress during the late ’60s to early ’70s.

One speech caught my attention because it felt like it was written in the present day – “Mr. Marcos and Congress: A Black Cabal,” delivered on Feb. 25, 1971, at the Senate then led by Senate president Gil Puyat.

Here are excerpts:

“I was dealt a sobering shock as I studied the 1970 national budget. President Marcos, I read there, had caused some P26 million of the General Fund to be transferred to the appropriation of the House of Representatives. It was not an illegal act, I hold; in truth, it was legal.

“But Mr. Marcos abused his authority as provided in Section 6 of the general provisions of the Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1970. As the law goes, it was an act beyond question.

“But is it moral? Another question pressed in my mind: What was behind it? Why did the House find the need for a presidential transfusion when it had projected its budget needs and could have voted itself any amount without interference from the Budget Commissioner?”

The breakdown of the P26 million is as follows as detailed by Sen. Ninoy:

• Transferred from the Department of Finance to the House: P4.3 million

• Transferred from the Department of Justice to the House: P1.4 million

• Transferred from the Executive Office to the House: P5.7 million

• Transferred from the Department of National Defense to the House: P8.8 million

• Transferred from the Rural Improvement & Community Development Fund, which Sen. Ninoy describes as “the unkindest cut of all:” P6 million

• Transferred from savings and appropriation of the Executive Department: P54,727.

This amounts to a total of P26 million transferred to the House, over and above the approved appropriations for the House, which amounted to P39 million, Sen. Ninoy said.

“The people, I must tell you, want to rekindle faith in government. But with examples such as these, can we regain their faith? I think not, Mr. President. If you were they, will you? But I believe there is still one last chance for us to do. We can begin, for example, by letting the truth out. Yes, Mr. President, we must be told the specifics of the P26-million transfers. The whys and the wherefores must be answered, Mr. President.

“Our people must know who else outside Mr. Marcos were involved in this foul deed – this collusion of the governing politicians against the Filipino people.”

There are just portions of Sen. Ninoy’s speech but one can already see how awfully familiar the circumstances and the problems are. The resemblance to the present day is uncanny. Mr. Marcos in the speech is, of course, Ferdinand Sr. but the difference seems to end there. The immoral transfers and reallocations as well as the cuts from other offices were all familiar.

Even the amount of P26 million reminds me of the P26-billion AKAP funds in the 2025 budget which were taken from other agencies’ appropriations.

Imagine this was in 1971. I wasn’t even born yet at the time. Now, 53 years later, history clearly repeats itself.

When will we ever learn? When will we finally heed the lessons of the past? Hopefully in the coming elections.

PhilHealth responds

PhilHealth responded to my fiscal discipline column published on Tuesday.

“We would like to inform you that PhilHealth has disbursed a total of P165.33 billion in claims payments from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024, with an average turnaround time of 24 days. This is 36 days faster than the 60-day processing period prescribed under Republic Act 10606.”

Addressing denied claims

“We would also like to emphasize that not all claims submitted are ‘good claims’ or valid for payment. Claims may be returned to hospitals due to discrepancies in entries, incomplete or inconsistent documentation or improperly filled forms. Meanwhile, some claims are denied payment due to late filing or re-filing, non-compensable cases or issues related to the hospital’s accreditation.

“The seeming discrepancy in figures between PhilHealth and the hospitals’ reports may be due to differences in accounting treatment. During reconciliation, it was noted that hospitals have been including denied and returned-to-hospital claims in their accounts receivables while PhilHealth recognizes only good claims as its payables, pursuant to prevailing government accounting rules and regulations.

“To address the incidence of returned and denied claims, PhilHealth actively engages hospitals nationwide through education on updated claims policies, guidelines and requirements.”

Enhancing benefits

“Regarding benefit enhancements, PhilHealth is achieving its targets as outlined in its Board-approved benefit plan. This is cognizant of the need to increase our support value to our members.”

It said that at least 33 benefit enhancements have been introduced over the past two years.

Recent enhancements include benefit packages for acute myocardial infarction, peritoneal dialysis, emergency care, kidney transplantation and cataract extraction, PhilHealth said.

New packages have also been introduced, such as preventive oral health services, physical rehabilitation services and optometric services for children.

Thank you, PhilHealth, for your response.

I am one with the public in hoping for a better PhilHealth in the years to come.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.