A new bill in the House of Representatives proposes establishing Veterans Memorial Medical Centers (VMMCs) in Luzon outside Metro Manila, Visayas, and Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao.
House Bill 6441, filed on November 27 by Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao Partylist Representative Maximo Rodriguez Jr., provides that each hospital would have at least 25 beds and be supervised by the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office.
The lawmakers noted that the country’s only hospital for veterans, located in Quezon City, “was mandated to be the primary medical facility for the hospitalization and medical care of veterans and their dependents.”
They added, “There are thousands of veterans all over the country […].”
The bill directs the Department of National Defense (DND) secretary to include in the DND’s programs “the operationalization of the new” VMMCs, with funding “included in the Annual General Appropriations Act.”
Operationalization involves “acquisition of the land on which the hospitals will be established, the construction of the building and other complementary infrastructures, facilities and hospital equipment, as well as the costs for maintenance and personal services for the said facilities.”
The measure mandates the DND, in consultation with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, to create and promulgate implementing rules and regulations.
The bill cites Article 16, Section 7 of the Constitution, which directs the State to “provide immediate and adequate care, benefits, and other forms of assistance to war veterans and veterans of military campaigns, their surviving spouses and orphans.”
Last June, President Bongbong Marcos launched the Veterans Access to Lifetime Optimized Healthcare (Valor) program, inaugurating the first Valor clinic in Lipa, Batangas.
“Spearheaded by the VMMC, Valor aims to decentralize veteran health care through a network of primary care services located in military treatment facilities and military installations nationwide,” the Presidential Communications Office said.