NINETEENTH CONGRESS
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Frst Regu/ar Session
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
lntroduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This bill was filed during the 18th Congress and was approved by the House of
Representatives.
It is pathetic to note that many of our sick but indigent countrymen who are medically
attended to in public hospitals and diagnosed as suffering from certain ailment and prescribed
the needed medicines, are nonetheless helpless in having their illness cured because of lack
of means to buy medicines as prescribed.
Medical attention without the concomitant medicines being administered to the patient
is meaningless.
It is the purpose of the bill to set aside a certain percentage of the IRA budget for
acquisition of medicines for free distribution to indigent patients in their respective localities.
RUF SB.RO
GUEZ
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House Bill No.
Again, pove(y is depriving many indigent patients of the rare opportunity of medical
advancement and recent discoveries on cure of diseases because the medicines are hardly
affordable and far from the indigent patient's reach.
The most appropriate and quick source of funding for free medicines to indigent
patients is the Internal Revenue Allotments (lRA) of local government units.
July 8, 2022
3:03 pm
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NINETEENTH CONGRESS
REPUBLIC OF THE PHTLIPPINES
Frst Regular Sesslon
)
)
)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
lntroduced b
tative Rufus B.
House Bill No.
AN ACT
REQUIRING LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS TO EARMARK AT LEAST FIFTEEN
PERCENT (15%} OF THEIR NATIONAL TAX ALLOTMENT SHARE FOR HEALTH
SERVICES, AMENDING FORTHE PURPOSE SECTION 287 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO,7160,
AS AMENDED, OTHERWSE KNOWN AS THE LOCAL GOVERNi'ENT CODE OF 1991
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines ln Congress
assemb/ed:
SECTION l. Section 287 of Republic Act No. 7160, as amended, otherwise known as the
Local Government Code of 1991 , is hereby amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 287. Local Development Projects AND HEALTH
SERyTCES. - Each local government unit shall appropriate in its annual
budget no less than twenty percent (20%) AND FIFTEEN PERCENT (15%)
of its annual [internal revenue] NATIONAL TAX allotment for development
projects AND HEALTH SERVICES, RESPECTIVELY. Copies of the
development plans AND HEALTH PROGRAMS, INCLUDING
PROVISION OF FREE ITEDICINES TO INDIGENT PATIENTS, of local
government units shall be furnished the Department of the lnterior and
Local Government (DILG) AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DOH).
HEALTH PROGRAMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS
SHALL BE APPROVED BY THE LOCAL HEALTH BOARDS IN
ACCORDANCE wlTH THE STANDARDS AND GRITERIA SET BY THE
DOH PURSUANT TO PERTINENT PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT
NO, 11223, OTHERWSE KNOWN AS THE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
ACT."
SEG. 2. Wthin sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Finance (DOF),
Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Health (DOH) and the
Department of the lnterior and Local Government (DILG) shall jointly promulgate the
necessary rules and regulations for the implementation of this Act.
SEC.3. All laws, decrees, executive orders and rules and regulations inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act are hereby amended, repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette
or in a newspaper of general circulation.
Approved,
Rodriquez
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