There’s nothing like firsthand experience to inspire new ideas…or, in this case, a new bill.
Former president and current Deputy House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has filed House Bill 1240 — which seeks to modernize the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), as well as prevent any sale or disposition of the state-owned medical facility.
Arroyo knows the VMMC well. She stayed there for roughly five years under hospital arrest while on trial for plunder. It may be recalled that she finally walked free after the Supreme Court decided to junk the plunder case against her (with an 11-4 vote) in July this year.
“Arroyo wants to give the VMMC — currently under the control and supervision of the Department of National Defense (DND) — its own juridical personality to provide it greater flexibility and autonomy in its operations in order to serve veterans’ medical needs as well as their dependents,” reports Delon Porcalla in The Philippine Star.
The report noted: “Arroyo lamented that VMMC is receiving a measly one percent of the DND’s annual budget. Unlike other government hospitals such as the Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center, Kidney Center, Philippine General Hospital and Philippine Children’s Medical Center, VMMC does not have its own charter and has no other source of income to support the free care and treatment of veterans, retirees and their dependents.”
The Arroyo bill, on the other hand, will give VMMC — which is situated in a 55-hectare complex in Quezon City — its corporate entity.
