Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. _2927

Introduced by Rep. Godofredo V. Arquiza and Rep. David L. Kho

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to create a National Center for Geriatric Health for the
senior citizens and the elderly.

Section 15, Article II of the 1987 Constitution provides that:

“The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive
approach to health development which shall endeavour to
make essential goods, health and other social services
available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be
priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly,
disabled, women and children. The State shall endeavour to
provide free medical care to paupers”

It is the mandatory duty of the State to protect and promote the right
to health of every Filipino by making quality and adequate health care
available and accessible to everybody, especially the poor Senior Citizens
and the elderly.

This bill aims to create a National Geriatric Health Centre and
Gerontology Research Institute, having the nature of a corporate body,
which will respond to the various demands of all Filipinos throughout the
land.

This Health Centre and Gerontology Research Institute will focus on
the medical needs of Senior citizens and the Elderly and will be the first of
its kind in the Philippines. While we have a National Children’s Hospital,
however we don't have any Geriatric Health Centre or Gerontology
Research Institute in the country. This will ensure the social, psychological


and biological aspects of aging people, as well as improve studies on the
diseases of our elderly.

This bill likewise encourages the active involvement of the private
sector as well as a few Congressmen and Senators who would like to help in
the fulfillment of this mission.

In view of the foregoing considerations, approval of this bill is
earnestly sought.

GODPOFREDO V. ARQUIZA



Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO._292'7

Introduced by Rep. Godofredo V. Arquiza and Rep. David L. Kho

AN ACT CREATING NATIONAL GERIATRIC HEALTH CENTRE
AND GERONTOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “National Geriatric
Health Centre and Gerontology Research Institute of 2010.”

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. Section 15, Article II of the 1987
Constitution provides that:

“The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive
approach to health development which shall endeavour to
make essential goods, health and other social services
available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be
priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly,
disabled, women and children. The State shall endeavour to
provide free medical care to paupers”

Section 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, these terms are
defined as follows:

(a) “Senior citizen” or "elderly" shall mean any resident citizen
of the Philippines at least sixty (60) years old or older as
defined in Republic Act No. 9257, otherwise known as the
“Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003.”

(b) “Geriatric Health Service” shall mean medical services
provided by a Geriatrician;


(© “Geriatrician” - is a Medical Doctor who has passed the
necessary training and examination and specializes in the field
of Geriatrics;

(d) Geriatrics - is the branch of medical science devoted to the
study of the biological and physical changes and diseases of
older adults; It aims to promote health and prevent and treat
diseases and disabilities of older adults;

(e) Integrated Delivery of Geriatric Health Services” is a
hospital and community based medical and psycho-social
services provided to senior citizens by a multi-disciplinary
team;

(f) Palliative Services is a specialized care for people who are
living with an advanced disease;

(g) Palliative Care is any form of medical care or treatment that
concentrates on reducing the severity of the symptoms of
disease. The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and
improve the quality of life for people facing serious or complex
illness;

(h) Tertiary hospital is a hospital that has a full complement of
services including general medicine, surgery and psychiatry.

SECTION 4. Creation of the National Geriatric Health Centre and
Gerontology Research Institute - There is hereby created a corporate body,
for the primary benefit of Senior citizens or the Elderly to be known as the
National Geriatric Health Centre and Gerontology Research Institute,
herein referred to as NGHC, which is hereby categorized as a government

owned and controlled corporation.

SECTION 5. Board of Trustees - The NGHC shall be administered by a

Board of Trustees composed of of the following:

a) Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH) - as
Chairperson of the Board;

b) Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) - as Assistant Chairperson of the Board;

c) Senators from the Senate;


d) Congressmen from the House of Representatives; and
e) Three philanthropists from the private sector.

f.) The number of Board of Trustees must not exceed fifteen
(15) members.

SECTION 6. Purposes and Objectives. - The purposes and objectives of the
NGHC are to provide the following:

(a) Hospital-based services - there shall be medical facilities
and equipment necessary to provide chronic, long term and
palliative services with its wards to be divided into the
following: Dementia, Long Term Care, Palliative Care, Respite
Care and other units as may be deemed necessary;

(b) Community based services - to develop and implement
community based program in partnership with local
government units, conduct research and external resource
outscoring to implement community based integrated geriatric
health services and conduct training necessary for the social
functioning of the senior citizens and their families, utilizing
the multi-disciplinary team approaches;

(c) Education - to provide field of specialization in Geriatrics
and Gerontology, conduct post graduate training and short
term courses for medical doctors and medical allied
professionals subject to the Joint Guidelines to be issued by the
Department of Health (DOH), the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) and the Technological Employment and
Skills Education Development Authority (TESDA);

(d) Program Development, Research, Medical/Technical
Assistance and Quality Assurance - to develop cutting edge
research and program to combat diseases of old age in
promoting active and healthy care, provide necessary
consultancy advice, technical assistance and standard
setting/registration to Geriatric ward in every Tertiary
Hospital, Nursing Homes, Retirement Homes, and Residential
Center catering to the health and social functioning needs of
senior citizens, subject to the Joint Guidelines mentioned in the
immediately preceding paragraph; and


(e) to establish Geriatric Wards manned by medical personnel
with expertise and/or training in Geriatrics - in every
government and private tertiary hospital, subject to the
Guidelines that shall be issued by the Department of Health.

SECTION 7. Powers - For the attainment and furtherance of the above-
cited purposes and objectives, the NGHC, as a body corporate acting
through its Board of Trustees, shall have all the powers pertaining to a
juridical person, and is authorized, among other things to:

a. acquire, hold and own in any manner, property of whatever
nature or description, and to dispose of such property, under
any mode of encumbrance or conveyance;

b. enter into, make, perform and carry out contracts of every
kind and for any purpose with any person, firm, association or
corporation, whether public, private, domestic or foreign;

c. mortgage, lease, sell, transfer, convey or otherwise dispose of
its properties;

d, solicit and receive donations, endowments and funds in the
form of contributions, whether in cash or in kind, from both the
public and private sectors and from domestic and foreign
sources;

e. open such accounts in banks and other financial institutions,
and to disburse such funds or invest the same as the Board of
Trustees may direct or authorize to accomplish or advance the
purposes or interests of the NGHC;

f. invite foreign or local specialists and similar experts in
various medical fields to train the personnel and residents of
the NGHC;

g. send the personnel of the NGHC to research on medical
institutes for advance training or observation, and to attend
international or regional conventions, conferences or seminars
as the Board of Trustees may deem necessary, to accomplish
the purposes and objectives of the NGHC;

h. enter into such agreements and arrangements with other
medical or similar institutions, domestic or foreign, as may be


deemed desirable by the Board of Trustees toward promoting
the purposes and objectives of the NGHC;

i. adopt a set of by-laws and regulations, policies, guidelines
and procedures consistent with law and the provisions of this
Act to govern the administration and operation of the NGHC;
and

j. do all such other acts and things as are or may be necessary
for or incidental to the accomplishment of the purposes and
objectives of the NGHC.

SECTION 8. Program for Indigents. - The Board of Trustees shall ensure
that the NGHC shall adopt and enforce a program for indigents. The
number of beds allocated for indigent patients shall not be less than twenty
percent (20%) of the total number of hospital beds.

SECTION 9. Security of Tenure of Civil Service Officers and Employees of
the NGHC - The provisions of Republic Act No. 6656 entitled “An Act to
Protect the Security of Tenure of Civil Service Officers and Employees in
the Implementation of Government Reorganization” existing civil service
laws, rules and regulations and other applicable laws shall apply to all
officers and employees of the NGHC except to the members of the Board of
Trustees.

SECTION 10. Tax Exemption and other Privileges - Being a non-profit,
non-stock corporation organized primarily to provide delivery of
integrated geriatric health services to promote healthy ageing in the
Philippines and help combat the increasing incidence of degenerative
diseases, frailty and disability and provide services for senior citizens with
the threatening diseases in the Philippines -

(a) all donations, contributions, endowments and
equipment and supplies imported by the NGHC for its
actual use and benefit shall be exempt from tax of any
nature or kind;

(b) the NGHC shall be exempt from payment of taxes,
charges and fees being imposed by the government,
its political subdivisions or instrumentalities,
including local government units for equipment
purchased for its use; and


(c) the NGHC may request and receive assistance from
the different Agencies, Bureaus, Offices or
Instrumentalities of the government, including the
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation
(PAGCOR) in the pursuit of its purposes and
objectives.

SECTION 11. Government Subsidy and Contributions - The amount of
Three Hundred Million Pesos (Php300,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated
as contribution of the National Government for the initial operations and
maintenance of the NGHC for the year 2010. Thereafter, the amount
necessary for the continued operation and maintenance of the NGHC shall
be duly provided for, appropriated and released from the National Budget.
Such funds shall be administered by the Board of Trustees.

SECTION 12. Auditing - The books of account of the NGHC shall be subject
to periodic audit by an independent auditing firm to be commissioned by
the Board of Trustees, provided that such audit shall be subject to review
by the Commission on Audit.

SECTION 13. Annual Report - The NGHC shall render an Annual Report of
its activities, accomplishments and recommendations to the President of
the Philippines, the Committee on Health and Social Services in both
Houses of Congress, Secretary of the Department of Health and the
Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

SECTION 14. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Secretary of
Health shall within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act,
promulgate the Implementing Rules and Regulations for the effective and
efficient implementation of the provisions of this Act in consultation with
the following agencies and offices:

(a) Department of Social Welfare and Development;
(b) Department of Health;
(c) Commission on Higher Education;

(d) Department of Finance.


SECTION 15. Effect of Dissolution - In the event the NGHC is dissolved for
any reason, its property remaining at the time of such dissolution shall be
placed under the Department of Health.

SECTION 16. Separability Clause. - If any section or provision of this Act is
held unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions shall not
be affected.

SECTION 17. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect within fifteen (15) days

after publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) national newspapers
of general circulation.

Approved,

GOPOFREDO V. ARQUIZA

DA KHO