MORE NEWS, IFUGAO

Ifugao governor hits DOH ‘dud’ program
By Robie Halip

Lagawe, Ifugao—Calling the Department of Health’s banner health program a “dud,” Gov. Teddy Baguilat Jr. expressed his disgust over the turtle-paced implementation of the Fourmula One (F-1), a multi-million donor aid program designed to bring dramatic improvements in the health sector.

Baguilat criticized lack of concrete policies and guidelines of the DOH in managing the F-1 which is on its third year of implementation. “Under the F-1, we were told that speed, precision and effective coordination would be guiding principles in implementing the health sector reform agenda. None of the three is evident in the current implementation of the Fourmula One program.”

Ifugao is among the 16 provinces identified by this program as one of its beneficiaries.

A province-wide investment plan for 2006-2010 health was crafted in 2005 and finished in 2006 taking on the sectoral development approach for health. The approval of this plan though took 18 months which delayed the start of its implementation.

DOH likewise reportedly left beneficiary provinces hanging with their annual operations plan as they had not been coordinating with concerned local government units on the status of their annual plans.

Baguilat saiud he was irked with finger pointing by concerned offices of the DOH every time he went to the said agency to follow up the status of the AOP of the province.

The governor noted that while F-1 has clear policy thrusts and an agenda, some operational guidelines were incoherent and changed leading to delay in submission of the LGUs of required documents.

The Fourmula One is the implementation framework for health sector reforms in the Philippines for the medium term 2005-2010. It uses a sectoral development approach where it engages national agencies, local government units, external development agencies and civil society organizations in the implementation of health
reforms.

This program was created to unite all initiatives and funding for health in one package to avoid fragmentation of health programs.

But the aim to pool all resources was never realized as only the European Commission placed their support for this initiative.

For Ifugao, an annual budget of P22 million is allotted for its health programs with P15.8 million coming from the EC to be used mainly for infrastructures for health and procurement of equipments and ambulances.

The remaining P 6.2 million is the counterpart of DOH to be utilized for the conduct of training and seminars and formation of health groups in the communities.

“The DOH is now requiring us to prepare our 2009 AOP. Yet, only a fraction of the 2007 was released and none of the funds for 2008 yet has been given. This is not just true for Ifugao but for all the 16 provinces,” Baguilat added.

Adding to the inconsistencies is the delayed approval of the AOP required for all the beneficiary provinces. Ifugao’s CY 2007 annual operations plan was only approved last March of this year but the fund from the DOH counterpart was only released last quarter of 2008.

A part of the EC funding for CY 2007 was only likewise released August of this year which further delayed the infrastructure and equipment procurement part of the program.

The governor said there was technical corruption as the delay of downloading of the DOH counterpart results into a payment of a commitment fee to the donor agency including World Bank.

This fee is charged when the funds are not fully utilized at the end of the year. World Bank finances the DOH counterpart of F-1 through a loan.

The investment plan for health was programmed until 2010 but up to now no concrete projects were implemented due to the aforementioned lapses on the side of the DOH.

Baguilat called on the immediate action of the DOH on these matters saying time was running out with only two years left for the implementation of the investment plan made by the province.

“We hope that the Fourmula One program will not just end up like a race car with four flat tires” he said.