Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume III, Number 44 December 7 - 13, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
Government’s
Military Bias Underscoring
how the government treats unevenly its military priorities and social services,
the budget of the AFP Medical Center continues to surpass that of four
other major state hospitals combined. By
Alexander Martin Remollino The
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Medical Center has a budget bigger than
that of four other government health institutions combined. Based
on the proposed National Expenditures Program of the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) for Financial Year (FY) 2004, the AFP Medical Center will
receive some Php787.2 million in budgetary allocations for next year. In 2002,
it received a Php788.8-million budget, while its 2003 budget amounts to Php773.6
million. The
AFP Medical Center’s budget for each of these years surpasses the combined
budgets of four other government hospitals—the Lung Center of the Philippines,
the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Children’s
Medical Center, and the Philippine Institute for Traditional and Alternative
Medicine—for the same years. The
Lung Center received Php209.1 million in 2002. Its 2003 budget amounts to
Php185.5 million, and it will be allocated the same amount in 2004. The
National Kidney and Transplant Institute got some Php186.4 million in 2002. It
has a Php185-million appropriation for 2003 and will be given the same amount in
2004. The
Philippine Children’s Medical Center was given Php211 million in 2002. For
2003 it has Php211.5 million in budgetary allocations, and in 2004 will receive
Php226 million. The
Philippine Institute for Traditional and Alternative Health Care had a 2002
budget of Php96 million. For 2003, it has a budget of Php80 million, and will be
allocated the same amount next year. Putting
together the figures for the four non-military government health institutes
(henceforth referred to as the 4 NMGHI group), one finds that in 2002 they had a
combined budget of Php702.5 million, in 2003 they have a combined budget of
Php662 million, and in 2004 will receive a combined budget of Php676.5 million. AFPMC-VMMC The
Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), on the other hand, has been receiving
comparatively less than the AFP Medical Center, but nonetheless also an
overwhelmingly big chunk of the health budget pie. In
2002, it received some Php561.4 million in budget appropriations, equivalent to
80 percent of the 2002 total for the 4 NMGHI group. For 2003 it has a budget of
Php576.5 million (equivalent to 87 percent of the 2003 total for the 4 NMGHI
group), and in 2004 will get some Php553.9 million (equivalent to 82 percent of
the 2004 total for the 4 NMGHI group). The
AFPMC-VMMC duo received a total of Php1.3502 billion in combined budgetary
appropriations for 2002. For 2003, their budgets add up to Php1.3501 billion,
and next year they will receive a total of Php1.3411 billion. For
the years 2002, 2003, and 2004, the AFPMC-VMMC duo has an average combined
budget of Php1.35 billion. In contrast, the 4 NMGHI group has, for the same
years, an average combined budget of Php680.3 million, or barely over half of
the AFP-VMMC average. Budgetary
discrepancy The
gap between the budget of the 4 NMGHI group and that of the AFPMC-VMMC duo,
however, is but a reflection of the chronic budgetary discrepancy in the
National Expenditures Program. Together
with debt service (both interest and principal amortization), the defense budget
has one of the highest growth rates in the national government’s expenditure
program. The proposed 2004 budget seeks to allocate a total of Php40 billion
($2.5 billion) to the military. Based
on a recent presentation by the DBM to the House of Representatives, from 2002
to 2003 debt interest payment grew by 24.1 percent and principal debt
amortization grew by 13.3 percent, while the defense budget grew by 4.4 percent.
In 2004, debt interest payment will go up by 17.7 percent (P271.50 billion) from
the 2003 allocation, principal debt amortization by 38.8 percent, and the
defense budget will stretch by 6.4 percent. In
contrast, appropriations for social services increased by only 2.2 percent from
2002 to 2003, and in 2004 will even decrease by five percent from the 2003
appropriation. Thus,
while the Philippine government will be spending about Php109,589,041 everyday
for defense in 2004, it will be spending only Php0.43 per person for health and
P9.40 for each public elementary and high school student—daily. Virtual
destitution The
Philippines’ defense budget continuously increases as each year, top military
officials demand bigger and bigger shares of the budget pie. Curiously,
however, the common soldier appears to be ever enduring a state of virtual
destitution. Last
July 27, some 300 young soldiers, including 70 junior officers of whom the five
most visible were heavily bemedalled leaders (two of whom graduated with high
honors from the Philippine Military Academy or PMA) staged an armed protest
action at the Oakwood hotel in Makati City. Among their grievances was
corruption in the military. One of their leaders, Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade
Antonio Trillanes IV (magna cum laude, PMA Class 1995), had exposed no less than
nine corruption cases in his own service branch as a graduate student at the
University of the Philippines in school year 2001-02. Many
of the soldiers who took part in the armed protest action spoke of literally
being forced to fight in the fields with hole-ridden combat boots. Capt.
Milo Maestrecampo, one of the soldier-protesters’ leaders, repeatedly spoke of
his men who died from battle wounds for lack of proper medical attention. Former
Army Capt. Rene Jarque, in various forums on military corruption, has also
repeatedly called attention to symptoms of military corruption: “Poor
hospitals and medical facilities, poor maintenance of buildings and equipment,
cramped housing for soldiers, unflyable planes and unsailable vessels, no first
aids to soldiers in the fields, lack of ammunition—all these point to
something inherently wrong with the state of the AFP and points to a need for
reform,” he said in a talk delivered last August. In
his talk, Jarque also described the AFP Medical Center as “rotting away.”
This, despite the fact that it has consistently received a higher budget than
the 4 NMGHI group. As
an army official, Jarque repeatedly came under fire from his superiors for his
efforts at exposing military corruption. The
military rank and file are known to live in dilapidated structures that can
hardly pass as houses, such as those that can usually be seen in military
reservation areas in Makati City. In contrast, generals usually enjoy all the
amenities of mansions in such first-class villages as Corinthian Gardens. To
the generals and other senior officials also go a big chunk of the defense
budget in salaries. The
grievances of the Oakwood soldier-protesters have been affirmed as legitimate by
no less than the Feliciano Commission, a government body which investigated the
July 27 event. In
a subsequent talk delivered last Nov. 16, Jarque said that he was partly glad
about the Fact-Finding Report of the Feliciano Commission, “Glad because the
many things that I have been saying all these years are now officially confirmed
and have found its way into the public mind.” He however scored the Commission for coming out with a “very shallow” report and not striking at the roots of corruption in the military. “It merely looked at the trees and not at the forest,” he said. “It failed to look at the root of the problem in the AFP which is the professional and moral bankruptcy of the AFP Officer Corps on whose shoulders lay the blame for the wretched and dishonorable state of the AFP today. It fails to apply the principle of ‘command responsibility’ on the president, who as commander-in-chief is ultimately responsible for the failure of the AFP to reform.” Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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