00:00So Mr. Mel, the President said that health care should not be politicized.
00:06So recently, you distributed 129 ambulances.
00:12How did you choose who will receive it?
00:14Our target is all municipalities, we will prioritize about 1,600 or 1,700 municipalities all over the country.
00:26So far, we have reached already the 600 mark because we are hoping that on the first half of the presidency of President Bongbong Marcos,
00:36we will be able to get 100% of the municipalities.
00:40So what we are giving, they don't even know how to write or submit the documents because they don't believe that they will be given.
00:48But the first ones are the vote rich, the voters and the former opposition bailiwick, Bicol Region.
00:57The first ones who submitted because there are requirements, there are about four documents that are needed.
01:03So the first ones, we will process it immediately.
01:07All right. How much is the value of each ambulance?
01:10About 2.2 million per ambulance.
01:13The problem of some municipalities is that there are cars or ambulances that don't have gas and there are no drivers or health workers.
01:21That's true, they really need gas.
01:25But at the very least, they can move their patients, their constituents to the nearest regional health center or to the nearest provincial health center.
01:37That's why we cannot give it to the barangay because there are no resources in the barangay.
01:45But at least the municipalities, we have an agreement with them for them to include in their budget the maintenance and operation of this ambulance.
01:55That's why we need the commitment of the municipalities to do that.
02:00All right. Now, it looks like there's a comparison to your announcement that the professional fees of doctors will be paid by the PCSO for indigent patients.
02:11Please explain what is the budget allocated here and how much can they ask for help?
02:17Actually, it is the same budget. That's why the budget we're giving today does not cover professional fee and the room.
02:27Since we have a universal health care, in fact, 40 percent of our charity goes to PhilHealth.
02:38That's a big increase in our charity fund but that's okay because we're just transferring the function.
02:45So you first go to PhilHealth, you go to DSWD, you go to DOH, if there's a local government unit.
02:54In the hierarchy of those who sleep, we are the last. We will be the last.
03:00What I noticed, like the congressmen, most of the time, the only thing left is the professional fee.
03:07Correct.
03:08If PhilHealth and other agencies have already paid, the patient is pitiful because they will still pay the professional fee.
03:16So what we did is that our money is now applicable and can be used for the professional fee.
03:23So it's the same budget but we have expanded its usage.
03:28GML, our problem is to balance the money that goes in and the money that goes out for donation.
03:36What is the in-out equation for you? How much do you donate every year and how much can you donate?
03:45Well, this is something peculiar to us. We have zero retention.
03:51While we are a GOCC, we have to earn but we cannot keep any profit. We are really zero.
03:57If there's still some left, we haven't transferred it to the charity, it goes to the national treasury.
04:03Actually, the charity fund is too committed to all other legislations.
04:12We support PhilHealth, we support CHER, we support the Dangerous Drugs Board, and a lot others.
04:20Our actual utilization of our budget is only 10%.
04:24Okay.
04:24That's why I chose the slogan of not asking for help because we cannot use that as an excuse not to help.
04:33Because they always call us, can we ask for help? Can you imagine? What will they say? No.
04:40We still have to do that because by law, we have to be charitable.
04:44Correct.
04:45By law. So that's how it is. We don't have retention.
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