SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)
First Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HB.No._ 3200

INTRODUCED BY HONORABLE MARK A. VILLAR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Claiming thousands of lives each year, and amounting to several billions of
pesos in healthcare and treatment cost, cancer has become serious public health
issue and both a clinical as well as economic burden.'

In the Philippines, cancer is the third leading cause of death. It is outranked
only by communicable and cardiovascular diseases, claiming one death for every
two new cases within a year, while cancer, which afflicts 189 per 100,000, kills four
Filipinos every hour or 103 every day.

The incidence and mortality rate of cancer in the Philippines has been
increasing in the past three decades. This trend is expected to continue if organized
and sustained specialized care and preventive measures against cancer are not
initiated.

The chemotherapy for cancer patients may cost about P100,000.00 per session. The
cost of treatment by radiation, or even examination by MRI, is burdensome even to
middle-income patients, and often beyond the reach of the poor.

This is why cancer has gained a reputation as the disease for the rich. The
painful truth is that it can afflict anybody, regardless of economic status. The

leaislation is submitted with the recoanition that in our fundamental law. the riaht to
health of the people is accorded premium attention. And considering too that one of

the goals of the national economy is a more equitable distribution of opportunities
and raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged, it is high time that
the less fortunate be given the opportunity to fight the cancer disease despite their
lack of resources.

For this reason, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

a es eae \
MARK A. VILLAR

From a study of the Institute of Human Genetics, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines
‘Mani, ing.upm.edu.ph


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

HOUSE BILL NO. 3

INTRODUCED BY HONORABLE MARK A. VILLAR

AN ACT
TO ASSIST INDIGENT CANCER PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES,
ESTABLISHING FOR THE PURPOSE A CANCER ASSISTANCE FUND
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1, It is a declared policy of the State to protect and promote the
right to health of the people. For this purpose, the State shall implement a system of
providing premium care and assistance to indigent cancer patients and their families.

Every year, the State shall automatically appropriate the amount of One
Billion Pesos (Php 1,000,000,000.00) to support the cancer medicine and treatment
assistance program to be administered by the Philippine Health Insurance
Corporation (Philhealth). The Program shall prioritize indigent and underprivileged
cancer patient beneficiaries to be identified by the Philhealth in coordination with the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of the
Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The Philhealth in consultation with the DSWD and DILG and the
representatives from hospital association, medical practitioners and civil society
representing peasant and/or the marginalized sector shall formulate relevant rules
and regulations within six (6) months from the approval of this Act

SEC 2. 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