Health groups present 9-point agenda to Noynoy

MANILA, Philippines – Various health groups led by the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) presented yesterday a nine-point health agenda that president-elect Benigno Aquino III “should immediately address.”

HEAD secretary-general Dr. Geneve Rivera said that the outgoing Arroyo administration had failed to attend to the health agenda so they hope that Aquino would give it utmost priority.

“These are the agenda that the outgoing Arroyo administration miserably failed to do in its years of misrule and will be the big challenges that the Aquino presidency must act upon,” Rivera said.

On top of the group’s list is the release of the 43 health workers allegedly arrested illegally by the military while attending a community health seminar in Morong, Rizal.

The groups also want the government to raise the health budget to at least P90 billion and to guarantee free health services and medicine for the poor.

They demanded the full implementation of salaries and benefits of health workers and deployment of adequate health professionals to far-flung provinces. They also asked Aquino to stop the privatization of government hospitals.

“The People’s Health Agenda is just, achievable and will warrant great political will and resolve from the incoming Aquino administration,” she added.

HEAD estimates that despite the implementation of the Cheaper Medicine Law, which provides for medicine price cuts of up to 50 percent, some 70 percent of the Filipinos “still cannot afford to buy medicine.”

“The inadequacy and inaccessibility of public health services are worse than ever. Infectious and preventable diseases continue to top causes of mortality and morbidity. Malnutrition and diseases of poverty like tuberculosis plague poor communities,” a HEAD statement reads.

According to Rivera, preventable deaths of pregnant women remain high at 170 per 100,000 live births.

Aquino will be a ‘green’ President

Meanwhile, Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Heherson Alvarez expressed optimism that Aquino would be a “green” president and that his administration will include the environment, particularly the issue of climate change, among its priority programs.

Alvarez, in a recently-held news conference, said that the government has a moral obligation to address the urgent issue of climate change and its negative effects as stated in the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change.

“The National Framework Strategy on Climate Change is committed towards ensuring and strengthening the adaptation of the country’s natural ecosystems and human communities to climate change. In the process, the framework aspires to chart a cleaner development path for the Philippines, highlighting the mutually beneficial relationship between climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

Alvarez said he is ready to report to the incoming president developments and updates on the country’s commitment to fight climate change.

Arts against climate change

As this developed, the CCC announced its plan to unveil a 7,101-meter-long mural on climate change on Monday.

The project intends to beat Mexico’s world record on the longest painting on canvas with its 6,001.5-meter entry in the Guinness Records last May 28.

Alvarez said that he considers arts as an effective tool to raise awareness on carbon-cutting, which could help avert global warming and climate change.

“Global warming and climate change concern us all and public information on mitigation and adaptation is our best weapon. The arts are a vivid educational tool to raise carbon-cutting consciousness. Let us join hands in this battle against climate change,” he said.

He said the mural will be inaugurated at the Batangas Port Livelihood Center during a three-day event from June 25 to 28, in observance of World Environment Day and Climate Change Teach-in Day.

The Commission said the celebration is being organized together with the On-The-Spot Artists of the Philippines headed by Rollie de Leon.

De Leon said around 6,000 artists of different ages contributed to the mural.

With the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program) theme, “Biodiversity Is Life…Biodiversity is Our Life,” the celebration incorporates an Association of Southeast Asian Nations Youth Fusion Workshop on Heritage and Habitat, including global warming crises to protect bio-cultural diversity in Southeast Asia. – Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) with Rhodina Villanueva