By Dr. Tony Leachon
The proposed Medical Assistance for indigent and financially incapacitated Program (MAIFIP) of the Department of Health is nothing less than a new pork barrel cloaked in health rhetoric.
It is potentially unconstitutional because it undermines PhilHealth’s role as the single payor mandated under the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law.
By fragmenting financing and creating parallel structures, MAIFIP weakens the very foundation of UHC, which was designed to guarantee equity, efficiency, and sustainability through one consolidated system.
This dilution of PhilHealth’s authority risks violating both the spirit and the letter of the law.
Despite a ₱53 billion budget already approved and signed, the Department of Health admits that no clear guidelines exist—promising that they will “come soon.” This is not governance; it is improvisation. In reality, patronage politics fills the vacuum. Without guarantee letters or transparent processes, we know how the system works: a phone call or text from a local government head or lawmaker can tilt the balance.
Funding becomes discretionary, arbitrary, and inequitable—some facilities receiving ₱5,000, others ₱10,000, and still others ₱50,000—without any rational basis or accountability.
This is not health reform; it is health patronage. It promotes a mendicant mentality, fosters dependency, and entrenches political favoritism rather than building a sustainable, process-based system.
Worse, it drains resources away from PhilHealth, the very institution mandated to protect the Filipino people under UHC. The middle class, already burdened by taxes, will see their contributions diverted into a discretionary fund rather than a unified insurance system.
In 2025, the government approved a zero subsidy for PhilHealth while allowing MAIFIP to dominate health financing under the DOH’s auspices. This is a betrayal of the constitutional promise of universal health care. We will challenge this zero subsidy before the Supreme Court, not only as a matter of law but as a matter of justice and survival for millions of Filipinos.
The tragedy compounds when viewed alongside the unresolved flood control program, another glaring example of misplaced priorities and systemic neglect.
While communities drown in literal floods, the health system is drowning in political patronage. Both crises expose a government more committed to discretionary spending and political expediency than to long-term, sustainable solutions for its people.
MAIFIP is the new pork barrel—a dangerous diversion of public funds that undermines universal health care, perpetuates inequality, and betrays the Filipino people. It is unconstitutional, unsustainable, and unacceptable.
The fight for health reform is not just about budgets—it is about justice, dignity, and the right of every Filipino to equitable care. We will not allow the government to dismantle UHC and replace it with patronage politics disguised as health assistance.
#RelentlessForChange
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About the Author
Dr. Tony Leachon is a Filipino physician and health reform advocate whose legacy lies in championing universal healthcare, fighting corruption in public health institutions, and making complex medical and policy issues accessible through storytelling and public service.
