Business World, 17 July 2012
“We want PPP for infrastructure and technical upgrades of 25 DoH-run hospitals,” Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona said during a Senate hearing on updates of his department’s use of its budget for this year.
Health Undersecretary Teodoro J. Herbosa added in a telephone interview yesterday, “This is in-line with the department’s thrust to provide accessible, quality health care to all.”
Mr. Herbosa noted that the department had already submitted to the PPP Center proposals for five of the 25 hospitals it hopes to put under the state’s flagship program.
“We have submitted a proposal for five of the 25 proposed PPPs for hospitals, and will soon submit the next five,” he said, without elaborating.
Sought for comment, Rina P. Alzate, director of the PPP Center’s Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) Service, confirmed the submission. “Yes, it’s true that they’ve submitted five proposals,” she said in a separate phone interview.
Ms. Alzate explained that the DoH’s proposal “essentially, requests for funding support” to proceed with feasibility studies on possible PPPs for Western Visayas Medical Center; Quirino Memorial Medical Center; Bicol Medical Center; Vicente Sotto Medical Center; and Cagayan Valley Regional Medical Center.
“We’re just requesting [from] them (DoH) additional documents,” Ms. Alzate added, referring to details like “indicative scope of the project, among others.”
Mr. Herbosa said the department is “still studying the scope of the projects, which will be bid out [sic] to the private sector.”
“We are just finalizing the terms, like economic viability and other requirements,” he added.
“This should be done and submitted before year-end.”
The new projects will be considered for feasibility study funding by the Project Development and Monitoring Facility as soon as all requirements are submitted, Ms. Alzate explained.
The proposals will then be submitted for approval by the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), she added.
Two of DoH’s PPP projects — the P5-billion Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center and the P453-million Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Project Phase II — got the ICC-CabCom’s nod last May and April, respectively.
The projects involve construction of 700-bed capacity tertiary orthopedic hospital in Quezon City and develop self-sufficiency in vaccine production.
Both projects are now awaiting approval by President Benigno S.C. Aquino III, as chairman of the NEDA Board, before being put on the auction block.
So far only one PPP project — Ayala Corp’s P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Link Road project — has been awarded since the flagship program was first unveiled before foreign investors in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Two other projects have been tagged by the PPP Center as “ready for bidding” in the agency’s Web site, namely:
• the P59.2-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension and O&M (operation and maintenance), involving construction of a 11.7 kilometer stretch from the line’s Baclaran Terminal to Niyog Station in Bacoor, Cavite; and the
• P10.04-billion PPP for School Infrastructure Project, which includes design, financing and construction of about 9, 300 classrooms.
In the same hearing, Mr. Ona reiterated calls for Congress to approve the “sin” tax reform bill in order to boost funding for health care. “Restructuring the excise taxes of alcohol and tobacco would greatly help the DoH’s programs” he told legislators, noting that Executive wants the “P30-billion in fresh revenues that the bill can generate be used solely for health programs.”
The House of Representatives approved its version of the bill last month. The priority measure will face fresh discussions at the Senate when sessions resume next week.
