Caloocan Bishop Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David criticized the increase in funding for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program under the Department of Health (DOH).
This follows the recent decision of the bicameral conference committee to raise the program’s budget to ₱51 billion next year from ₱42 billion this year.
In a Facebook post, David said one of the silent yet serious failures of public life is the normalization of a system that forces the poor to beg for something that is supposed to be rightfully theirs.
Cardinal David stressed that the program relies on guarantee letters issued by politicians, giving them control over who receives assistance, how much is granted, and when it is released.
While MAIFIP appears to show compassion, he said it is merely a form of health-related pork barrel in the national budget.
According to him, it undermines the dignity of the poor.
He added that under such a system, health care is no longer delivered as a right, but as a favor granted by those in power.
Cardinal David called on Congress to abandon pork barrel practices.
He said that when institutions function properly, people should no longer need to beg.
