03/07/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1ETmvj1CDm/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Open Letter of Healthcare Leaders to Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto against Unequal PhilHealth benefits
Dear Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto,
As healthcare professionals, we care for Filipinos from every walk of life. We do not see them as direct or indirect contributors. We see them as patients who need our care. That is why we are deeply concerned by your proposal to provide different PhilHealth benefits for direct and indirect contributors.
The Universal Health Care Act was never intended to divide Filipinos into different tiers of health protection. Its guiding principles recognize the contributions of all workers while also giving priority to those who cannot afford to pay. These are not competing rights - they are complementary principles that ensure every Filipino is protected.
We understand that many working Filipinos feel they are not receiving enough benefits in return for the premiums they pay. This is not because indigent patients receive too much, or to use your own words, βpanalo silaβ. This is because government is failing to shoulder its lawful share in financing the premiums of the poor. As a result, direct contributors end up paying for a larger share of the country's health care than the law intended. Creating a separate tier of PhilHealth benefits does not solve that problem. It simply shifts attention away from the real problem - government's failure to meet its obligations under the Universal Health Care Act.
The solution is clear - government must stop diverting PhilHealth funds, and it must stop underfunding PhilHealth. If government fulfills its obligations under the Universal Health Care Act, PhilHealth can strengthen benefits for every Filipino, rather than just a few.
Mr. Secretary, we will be happy to discuss these issues with you if you have time to meet us. Healthcare should unite us, not divide us. No Filipino should have to choose between protecting the worker who pays premiums and the poor patient who cannot. Our duty as healthcare professionals is to care for both. We ask our government to do the same.
Respectfully,
The undersigned healthcare professionals and organizations
Philippine Medical Association
Philippine College of Physicians
Philippine College of Surgeons
Philippine Association of Medical Technologists
Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives Inc.
Philippine Pharmacists Association
Philippine Academy of Occupational Therapists
Philippine Physical Therapy Association
Ang Nars
Philippine Nurses Association
Philippine Association of Speech-Language Pathologists Inc.
Association of Hand Surgeons of the Philippines
Asia-Pacific Center for Evidence-Based Health Care
Asia-Oceania Research Organisation on Ge***al Infections and Neoplasia
Foundation for Family Medicine Educators Inc
Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina
National Hospice and Palliative Care Council of the Philippines
Occupational Health Nurses Association of the Philippines
Pain Society of the Philippines
Pediatric Nephrology Society of the Philippines
Philippine Academic Society of Social and Community Medicine
Philippine Academy for Head and Neck Surgery, Inc.
Philippine Academy of Family Physicians
Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology
Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists
Philippine Addiction Specialists Society
Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity
Philippine Association of Medical Journal Editors
Philippine Association of Nutrition
Philippine Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons
Philippine College of Adult Nephrology
Philippine College of Chest Physicians
Philippine College of Emergency Medicine
Philippine College of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Philippine College of Geriatric Medicine
Philippine College of Occupational Medicine
Philippine Dermatological Society
Philippine General Hospital Physicians Association
Philippine Heart Association
Philippine League Against Epilepsy
Philippine Lipid and Atherosclerosis Society
Philippine Neurological Association
Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society
Philippine Pediatric Society
Philippine Surgical Infection Society
Philippine Rheumatology Association
Philippine Society for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy
Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Philippine Society for General Internal Medicine
Philippine Society for Gynecologic Endoscopy
Philippine Society for Literature and Narrative Medicine
Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Philippine Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition
Philippine Society for Reproductive Medicine
Philippine Society for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery
Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Philippine Society of Cardiovascular Catheterization and Interventions
Philippine Society of Climacteric Medicine
Philippine Society of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
Philippine Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology
Philippine Society of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Philippine Society of Hypertension
Philippine Society of Newborn Medicine
Philippine Society of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Philippines
Philippine Society of Pediatric Hematology
Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians
Philippine Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Society of Gynecologic Oncologists of the Philippines
Stroke Society of the Philippines
The Child Neurology Society Philippines
The Philippine Society of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
