Health promotion budget cut flagged

MANILA, Philippines —  Former Department of Health secretaries have expressed alarm over the drastic budget cut to the DOH Health Promotion Bureau, warning lawmakers that it is a violation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.

From the proposed P2.5 billion, the HPB’s 2027 budget has been reduced to P485 million, or 0.18 percent of the DOH’s total budget, in the House of Representatives’ version of the 2027 general appropriations bill.

Section 30 of the UHC Law states that “the cost of implementing health promotion programs shall be at least one percent of the DOH’s total budget appropriations, ” the Healthy Philippines Alliance (HPA) stressed.

“Slashing funding for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases will ultimately cost the government far more in secondary care and emergency hospitalizations in the future,” said Jaime Galvez Tan, former health secretary and HPA lead convener.

“Diabetes, heart and kidney disease and hypertension are overwhelming Filipino families and draining our health care system. Prevention is our most cost-effective tool and we urge Congress to restore and expand funding to protect public health,” he added.

Filipino families, especially those from low-income households, lose the support and resources they need to protect them from preventable risks when the budget for health promotion shrinks to P400 million, former health secretary Esperanza Cabral said.

“It strips the poor of their right to services that can save their lives. We cannot protect vulnerable communities when HPB is severely underfunded,” Cabral said.

Former health secretary Manuel Dayrit said, “A budget cut of this scale undermines the mandate of the UHC Law. It is counterproductive to our goal of achieving a financially sustainable universal health care, which is fundamentally guaranteed to every Filipino.”

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