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Rep. Camille Villar, the deputy speaker and representative for Las Pinas, pushed for the ratification of a bill on Friday that would institutionalize a PHP10 billion fund to aid underprivileged Filipino families fighting cancer.

The House leader promoted House Bill 5686, or the Cancer Medicine Treatment Fund for Filipinos, recognizing that the disease is one of the major causes of death in the country and that treating it can be expensive for Filipino families, particularly for the poor and impoverished.

It is high time that those who are less fortunate are given the lifeline to fight cancer despite their lack of resources, said Villar in a statement. “Considering 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,” Villar said.

For instance, each session of treatment for cancer patients may cost around 100,000 PHP. Even for patients with middle-class incomes, the expense of radiation therapy or even an MRI or magnetic resonance imaging examination is prohibitive and frequently out of the grasp of the poor, according to the expert.

According to the most recent data from the Health Department, 189 people out of every 100,000 in the Philippines are affected by cancer, an increase in both cancer incidence and mortality rates over the past few decades. 96 patients a day, or four Filipinos per hour, passed away from cancer in the country.

If coordinated and ongoing specialist care and cancer prevention efforts are not started, Villar predicted that this tendency will persist.

This is the reason why cancer has developed a reputation as a disease of the wealthy. No one’s financial situation, it can affect them, which is a harsh truth, she continued.

According to HB 5686, Philhealth must design and manage a cancer treatment program through its licensed government hospitals in each congressional district. In collaboration with the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Health (DOH), Interior and Local Government, and other relevant departments, the aid will be restricted to patients who are impoverished and disadvantaged as determined by the state health insurer (DILG).

Ten billion PHP will be set aside for the program’s implementation. The national government will then incorporate the cash required to carry out the measure’s goals in the General Appropriations Act’s budget for the DOH.

The cancer support fund has been given a total budget of PHP529.2 million under the 2022 budgetary plan.

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