Cancer Medicine and Treatment Fund for Filipinos

TWEENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE ) REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session JUL -7 A10:26 SENATE S. No. Introduced by SENATOR CAMILLE VILLAR AN ACT ESTABLISHING A CANCER MEDICINE AND TREATMENT ASSISTANCE FUND FOR INDIGENT AND UNDERPRIVILEGED FILIPINOS EXPLANATORY NOTE The 1987 Philippine Constitution affirms the State's obligation to adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development. It mandates the government to make essential goods, health, and other social services accessible to all Filipinos, with particular primacy given to accessibility for the underprivileged, sick, elderly, persons with disabilities, women, and children. Additionally, the State is called upon to provide free medical care to paupers. In connection with the above, the issue of cancer remains a formidable public health challenge in the Philippines. It is currently the third leading cause of mortality nationwide, surpassed only by communicable and cardiovascular diseases. With an incidence rate of 189 per 100,000 people, cancer claims the lives of approximately four Filipinos every hour. Over the past decades, the incidence and mortality rates of cancer have steadily increased. Without comprehensive and sustained investments in specialized care and preventive health systems, it would be no surprise if the trends worsen. It is also important to note, that in addition to the emotional burdens caused by possible death due to cancer, the financial burdens are also substantial. A single chemotherapy session may cost up to PhP100,000.00, while radiation therapy and other advanced diagnostic procedures remain unaffordable to many Filipinos. Cancer has thus earned the grim reputation of being a "disease of the rich", despite the reality of its ability to affect individuals regardless of their social or economic standing.

Thus, a just and inclusive national economy demands that opportunities such as essential healthcare services must be equitably distributed. It is both a moral and constitutional imperative that those who are less in life be given a fighting chance against cancer, regardless of status and ability to pay. In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this measure is sought. CAMILLE VILLAI

TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session 25 JUL -7 A10:26 SENATE S. No. Introduced by SENATOR CAMILLE VILLAR AN ACT ESTABLISHING A CANCER MEDICINE AND TREATMENT ASSISTANCE FUND FOR INDIGENT AND UNDERPRIVILEGED FILIPINOS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: ARTICLE I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Cancer Medicine and

Treatment Fund for Filipinos."

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby a policy of the State to protect and

6 promote the right to health of the people and to adopt and implement a system of effecting the delivery of free medicine and free treatment to indigent and underprivileged cancer patients.

SEC. 3. Establishment of a PhP10 Billion Cancer Fund and Free Medicine

Assistance Program. There is hereby created a Ten Billion Cancer Fund that can be availed of by indigent and underprivileged cancer patients. For this purpose, a Cancer Treatment Program, hereinafter referred to as the "Program," is established and to be administered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) through its accredited government hospitals in each province.

The Program shall be limited to indigent and underprivileged cancer patient beneficiaries which shall be identified by the PhilHealth in close coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Health 4 (DOH) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). The Philhealth, jointly with the DSWD, DOH and DILG and the relevant private groups including the association of hospitals and medical institutions and groups of patients, shall prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provision of this Act within six (6) months from the effectivity hereof.

SEC. 4. Appropriations. - There is hereby appropriated the sum of Ten Billion

10 Pesos (PhP10,000,000,000.00) for the implementation of the Program. The National Government shall subsequently include in the budget of the Department of Health in the General Appropriations Act such amount as may be necessary to carry out the objectives of this Act.

SEC 5. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or

unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain valid and subsisting.

SEC 6. Repealing Clause. - All provisions of laws, orders, decrees, including

rules and regulations inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed and/or modified accordingly.

SEC 7. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following

its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two newspapers of general circulation. Approved,