THE PhilHealth Regional Office (PhRO X) in Cagayan de Oro lauded Governor Oscar S. Moreno, Vice-Governor Noris C. Babiera, and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for the creation of the first and only provincial department in the country primarily tasked to implement the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Misamis Oriental, under the stewardship of Vice-Governor Babiera, passed Ordinance 1161-2009 on November 16, 2009, creating the Provincial Health Insurance Office (PHIO).

Hence, Gov. Moreno signed the ordinance into law on January 20, 2010.

The newly created PHIO seeks to provide the people of Misamis Oriental with the mechanism to gain financial access to quality health care services via enrolment in PhilHealth.

Misamis Oriental has enrolled 170,000 indigent families into PhilHealth’s sponsored program or roughly 850,000 beneficiaries. This is the second biggest provincial enrolment of indigent members in the country and gives 90% of the provincial population access to PhilHealth benefits.

PhRO X Regional Vice President Datu Masiding M. Alonto, Jr., noted Governor Moreno’s political will in putting high priority to social security and ensuring insurance coverage to the least privileged and most susceptible sector.

He also cited the upgrading to secondary level of the PhilHealth accreditation of the four (4) of MisOr’s seven (7) provincial hospitals in the last three (3) years.  These are the Provincial Hospitals at Manticao, Initao, Talisayan, and Balingasag. This would entitle PhilHealth patients to more benefits at the hospitals and generate more hospital income.

He added that with the ongoing construction of a new provincial hospital at Alubijid, Misamis Oriental, would now really enhance its health care delivery system.

RVP Alonto assured that PhilHealth will continue to support the programs of Governor Moreno and strengthen its partnership in health with Misamis Oriental for the benefit of the people. (Merlyn H. Ybañez, PhRO X)

Schedule of Publication: PIA-10 email February 2, 2010

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The Supreme Court has now junked the petition that would install Nilo Pates as the city mayor of El Salvador , Misamis Oriental.

In an en banc decision, the Supreme Court said the petition to reverse the ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) favoring incumbent mayor Emelita Almirante was filed out of time.

It cited how the petition for certiorari against the poll body was filed beyond the reglementary period fixed under the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure particularly Rule 64, Section 3 governing review of judgments and final orders or resolution of the Comelec.

“Only petitions which are accompanied by or which comply strictly with the requirements specified therein shall be entertained,” the Supreme Court said in its decision dated Nov. 11, 2008.

This paper failed to contact Pates for his side but sources close to the former mayoral candidate disclosed that they are now mapping out moves to file a motion for reconsideration in the hopes of reversing the High Tribunal’s decision.

They cited how the case docketed as G.R. No. 184915 entitled “Nilo T. Pates vs. Commission on Elections and Emelita B. Almirante” involves the will of the people and thus, the technicality of it being filed out of time should be set aside.

Also, they cited how last Oct. 22, 2008, Pates’ lawyer Atty. Wilfredo Labuntog has already submitted a letter with the postal money order with the amount of P6,000.00 for the docket, filing and other legal fees.

Still, El Salvador mayor Emelita Baculio-Almirante through her brother former Misamis Oriental Second District congressman Atty. Augusto Baculio, Jr. and her son Atty. Carlo Antonio Almirante separately issued statements that they expected the decision of the Supreme Court.

Also, Baculio said it was “close to impossible” that the Supreme Court would reverse the decision of the Comelec.

He said this as he explained that the Constitution has clearly given the Comelec the power to decide factual issues particularly when it comes to election controversies.

Baculio said the Supreme Court can only review on whether the poll body committed any grave error.

“But we won already at the Comelec Division level and at the Comelec En Banc level, so we already expected to win at the Supreme Court,” he told Gold Star Daily.

During the May 2007 Elections, Almirante was proclaimed as the winner of the mayoral race in El Salvador against Pates by a margin of 211 votes.

Pates filed an election protest case against Almirante which was raffled to the sala of Regional Trial Court Branch 41 presiding judge Jeoffrey Acebedo.

Judge Acebedo ruled in favor of Pates but Almirante filed an appeal to the Comelec division which ruled in her favor as well as the Comelec En Banc.

Pates moved to reverse the Comelec’s decision at the Supreme Court and this was docketed as G.R. No. 184915 entitled “Nilo T. Pates vs. Commission on Elections and Emelita B. Almirante” which the Supreme Court has now dismissed.

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Senators, congressmen, mayors and their legal counsels yesterday met to map out their grounds for their motion for reconsideration on the Supreme Court’s decision to demote 16 cities back to mere municipalities including El Salvador , Misamis Oriental.

Former Second District of Misamis Oriental Cong. Augusto Baculio, Jr. said the meeting was even attended by the senate president and house speaker together with topnotch lawyers all over the country.

He disclosed that one of the arguments that they are considering to present to the Supreme Court is that the passage of the laws converting all 16 municipalities into cities is covered under the “political question doctrine” and as such puts it beyond the judicial review powers of the court.

According to Baculio, the bill passed through both legislative and executive branches of government from the House of Representatives to the Senate where there are representatives from the over 1,000 cities who could have blocked the bill.

He pointed out that the Congress-approved bill was then not vetoed by the President within the allowed period of time when she could have done so.

He added that the people of El Salvador together with those in the 15 towns that were converted into cities also held plebiscites where they affirmed their respective charters.

“There is regularity,” Baculio told Gold Star Daily yesterday.

However, he declined to elaborate citing how they do not want their legal grounds to be on hand ahead of time to the other adverse parties.

In the case of Tañada vs. Cuenco (100 Phil 101), Baculio quoted how the Supreme Court held that a political question refers to a question of policy or to issues which, under the Constitution, are to be decided by the people in their sovereign capacity or in regard to which full discretionary authority has been delegated to the legislative or executive branch of government.

He said the High Tribunal further said that such political questions are generally concerned with issues dependent upon the wisdom, not the legality of a particular measure.

“Political question is so far one of our best arguments,” the congressman said.

Still, Baculio debunked claims that the law converting El Salvador from a municipality to a component city of Misamis Oriental was half-baked or was approved due to some horse-trading in Congress and at the Office of the President.

He said he had worked for the passage of such a legislative measure almost throughout his career as the congressman of the Second District of Misamis Oriental.

“Cityhood of El Salvador was first filed in 1999 and refilled in 2001 and 2004. In 11^th, 12^th and 13^th Congress. Became one of the 16 cities due to the timely filing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Atty. Anthony Carlo Almirante, the son of El Salvador City mayor Emelita Almirante, said his mother and the mayors of the 15 other cities have yet to be officially served with copies of the Supreme Court decision.

However, he added that there is now a growing consensus that each of the affected city will file their own separate motion for reconsideration at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court declared the City Hood laws as unconstitutional based on seven grounds:

First, applying the P100 million income requirement in RA 9009 to the present case is a prospective, not a retroactive application, because RA 9009 took effect in 2001 while the cityhood bills became law more than five years later.

Second, the Constitution requires that Congress shall prescribe all the criteria for the creation of a city in the Local Government Code and not in any other law, including the Cityhood Laws.

Third, the Cityhood Laws violate Section 6, Article X of the Constitution because they prevent a fair and just distribution of the national taxes to local government units.

Fourth, the criteria prescribed in Section 450 of the Local Government Code, as amended by RA 9009, for converting a municipality into a city are clear, plain and unambiguous, needing no resort to any statutory construction.

Fifth, the intent of members of the 11^th Congress to exempt certain municipalities from the coverage of RA 9009 remained an intent and was never written into Section 450 of the Local Government Code.

Sixth, the deliberations of the 11^th or 12^th Congress on unapproved bills or resolutions are not extrinsic aids in interpreting a law passed in the 13^th Congress.

Seventh, even if the exemption in the Cityhood Laws were written in Section 450 of the Local Government Code, the exemption would still be unconstitutional for violation of the equal protection clause.

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Local officials yesterday lamented the decision of the Supreme Court to revert El Salvador, Misamis Oriental from a component city back to being a mere municipality saying it will severely hit the delivery of public services to its residents.

Nevertheless, El Salvador mayor Emelita Almirante through her son Atty. Anthony Carlo Almirante said a motion for reconsideration is now being prepared in the hopes of changing the minds of the Supreme Court justices.

“There is no other option but a motion for reconsideration,” he told Gold Star Daily adding that the city mayor rushed to meet with the other 16 other chief executives in Manila who are also affected by this decision of the Supreme Court.

Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno, Vice-Governor Norris Babiera and Second District Provincial Board member Oliver Actub said the Supreme Court’s decision may be hard but it must be given due respect.

However, Moreno explained that there is still hope that the Supreme Court justices would reverse its decision considering that the decision was not arrived at unanimously.

He added that until the motion for reconsideration on the decision of the Supreme Court is decided upon, El Salvador continues to remain as a component city of the province.

El Salvador vice-mayor Teodulfo Bombeo explained that, should the decision to revert their town back to a mere municipality be implemented, it would be very costly not just to the political subdivision itself but to its people.

“Dakong kahugno kini kanamo karon,” he said over dxIF Bombo Radyo yesterday.

Bombeo said their internal revenue allotment (IRA) would be reverted from the current P146 million as a component city to a mere P38 million.

He said this would affect their P160 million Proposed Annual Budget Ordinance for 2009 as they are heavily dependent on their IRA.

He added that their budget for public services, more roads, light and drainage facilities and even infrastructures for their town will have to be adjusted even scrapped.

Bombeo said, although there will be a slight decrease on the honorarium of their city councilors from P22, 000 a month to just over P21, 000, still, this would mean that they will have to go back to having a municipal council with eight members instead of having the current 10 member city council.

He said they would even have to close down some of the new offices allowed to be created by their charter as a component city.

“We have to adjust practically everything from our budget to the paper works and this will be very costly,” he said in the dialect.

The bill converting El Salvador from town to city was approved by the House of Representatives on December 20, 2006 and by the Senate on February 19, 2007. It lapsed into law on April 12, 2007 and became Republic Act 9435.

But the League of Cities in the Philippines filed a petition at the Supreme Court to annul the charter converting it into a city along with 15 other new cities arguing that the “wholesale conversion” would reduce the share of existing cities in the IRA since the more cities would share the same amount of internal revenue set aside for all cities.

Voting 7-5 with 2 abstentions, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws that elevated these 16 municipalities into cityhood is unconstitutional and violated the Local Government Code.

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The number of patients affected by the diarrheal outbreak from Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental continues to soar to around 628 patients even as local officials and medical experts among other groups are rushing to contain the bacterial spread.

Over dxIF Bombo Radyo, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ignacio Moreno reported that there are now around 620 victims of this outbreak.

He said there are now 557 patients victims at the Tagoloan Rural Health Center , 43 at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), 14 patients at the Polymedic Hospital at Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental and six at Puerto Community Hospital .

By late morning yesterday, NMMC top-officer Dr. Enrique Saab said there was an increase of four more children admitted at their pediatric wards and then four more adults thus, bringing the total to around 49 patients.

He said he and Department of Health-Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU-10) Dr. David Mendoza suspect that this might be a cholera outbreak and not amoeba.

He added that they are still waiting for the results of the samples they sent to their laboratories.

However, Dr. Saab clarified that this has nothing to do with the hog cholera that has killed a number of hog livestock at the same town in the past two months.

“Lahi man kadtong Hog Cholera kay wala man kadto epekto sa tao (The hog cholera is different as it has no effect on humans),” he told Gold Star Daily.

He added that the hog cholera that hit the town was viral and spread through the air while the one that is now affecting Tagoloanons are suspected to be sourced from the town’s water supply.

Tagoloan Mayor Paulino Emano said there are two water distributors at his town, the Tagoloan Water Works and the Mactan Rock in Natumolan.

However, he explained that majority of the residents that fell victim to this outbreak do not have a water line connection from these two sources.

“But I have already sent out some of our people to check out our two water supply distributors,” he said this as he added that the affected residents are those from barangays Buluarte, Casinglot, Bogoac, Poblacion, Mohon, Sta. Cruz, Sihayon and Sugbongcogon.

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The Commission on Audit (COA) found that Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental still do not conduct bulk public biddings and has failed to follow other procurement procedures when it comes to purchasing drugs and medicine supplies for its district hospitals.

In his Annual Audit Report 2007, COA Misamis Oriental provincial auditor Florentino Nueva said the purchase of drugs and medicines was delegated to the General Services Officer who procured these supplies through shopping instead of bulk bidding.

He said this “deficiency” in procuring medicines and other medical supplies had been an audit finding since 2005 and has remained unimplemented even until now.

“As a result, the seven devolved hospitals were often had shortages of drugs and medicines necessary for the efficient and effective delivery of health services to its constituents,” his recently-released report reads.

Nueva said the General Services Officer has explained that “it is impossible to conduct bulk bidding because despite the huge appropriations for medicines and other medical supplies, they are dependent of the actual cash availability of the Province.”

He added in his report how he was told by the General Services Officer that the concerned hospitals were always late in the submission of their Purchase Requests, thus, the Provincial Government resorted to shopping “for they believe that it was the fastest and most convenient way for the delivery of the much needed health services.”

Nueva also quoted in his audit report some of the comments sent by the Provincial Government to them in various letters.

The comments included how the Provincial Government considers public bidding as the general mode of procurement but that “shopping has been taken as a normal precedent” as an “indispensable practice” of local government-run hospitals wherein the “exigency of service is the prime consideration where hospital purchases are concerned.”

Also, that the Provincial Government has established the Hospital Operations Service/Division aimed to improve the “timeliness and availability of stocks for hospital sustainability” which has improved the actual revenue collections of the district hospitals from P4.8 million in 2004 to P19.8 million in 2007.

Moreover, the Provincial Government said periodic consultation and capability build-up essential within the health and hospital services have been regularly conducted for the single objective of providing continuous supply of hospital logistics, taking into consideration the increasing demands of the predominant PHILHEALTH indigent beneficiaries covering the 25 LGUs wholly financed by the Province.

However, Nueva said Republic Act 9184 does not have any provisions that “shopping can be taken as a normal precedent for local government units operating hospitals nor is it an indispensable practice in the exigency of service.”

He said it is not correct for the Provincial Government to also to say that “the practice of bidding and shopping, whichever is legitimate and advantageous and as recommended by the BAC,” since it is always public bidding as a general rule, unless the immediate need is really emergency in nature.

“If such condition is prevailing in the LGU during the year, such practice would always redound to poor planning and/or procedural lapses on the part of the Agency and thus, the procurement of medical supplies should not be categorized under “emergency purchase,” he said.

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Around P2.4 million was given out by the Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental to Non-Governmental Organizations/People’s Organizations (NGOs/POs) last year without fully complying the revised guidelines set by the Commission on Audit (COA).

In his COA Annual Audit Report 2007, COA-Misamis Oriental provincial auditor Florentino Nueva said a total of P2,374,004.00 was released to NGOs/POs for five projects not found in the Province’s Work and Financial Plan.

He said they discovered that not all beneficiaries are non-profit organizations but business establishments and professional organizations and that not all beneficiaries are based in the Province of Misamis Oriental or Cagayan de Oro City but in Bukidnon and in Davao.

“Most of the releases of funds were not covered with Memorandum of Agreement (MOA),” his report reads adding that the execution of a MOA to cover a certain project is “mandatory the reason being it is in that document that the terms of references are being embodied.”

Nueva said these fund releases were merely supported with a Sangguniang Bayan resolution while others were supported with Training Designs/Activity Proposals or were only attached with letter-requests asking for assistance.

He added that these deficiencies indicate that the Provincial Government failed to strictly follow the revised guidelines in the granting and utilization of funds released to NGOs/POs as provided for in COA Circular No. 2007-001.

Misamis Oriental Acting Provincial Accountant Divina Bade said that, in prior years, the Provincial Government extended financial aid based on the solicitation letter given, the purpose of the assistance and the required official receipts upon release of the amount.

She said this practice was continued thinking that it is allowed by law because no observations were made on this issue in the past annual audit reports and that she only got hold of the revised guidelines specifically COA Circular No. 2007-001 only when the audit report was about to be released.

“With this observations, rest assured that the management will now adhere and comply provisions on COA Circular No. 2007-001 especially Section 4.5.3 to safeguard the government funds vis-à-vis assistance granted to POs and NGOs,” she said.

Nueva recommended for the creation of a committee whose function is to evaluate strictly the legal personality of the particular NGO/Pos together with their required supporting documents.

“The risk that the NGOs/POs awarded with the implementation of identified priority projects may not be able to satisfactorily undertake the projects at terms most advantageous to the beneficiaries, is highly probable,” he said.

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The Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental violated Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act when it awarded infrastructure project contracts despite the failure of winning contractors to submit all the required supporting documents before the public bidding process begun, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported.

In his recently-released COA Annual Audit Report 2007, COA-Misamis Oriental provincial auditor Florentino Nueva said they found out how personnel from the Provincial Engineer’s Office still have to call for the contractor to comply with some lacking supporting papers.

He said this practice is an indication that contracts for infrastructure projects were approved without strictly following the provisions of the above law and that there was a “failure in the conduct of eligibility checking of prospective bidders but still pushed-through with the public bidding.”

“The Auditor/s concerned were not informed by the agency (Provincial Government) of any eligibility checking schedule nor were there any invitations for the attendance of a representative except during public bidding where only the 2nd envelope or the bid proposals were opened,” his report reads.

Nueva said they have discovered that contracts had long been approved before such were submitted to the Office of the Provincial Auditor for review.

“It was also further observed that most of the time, if not all, the implementation of the projects were already 100% completed upon submission by the agency (Provincial Government) of the contract for review,” his report reads.

Nueva said the incompleteness in the submission of required documents was also blamed as to why the Provincial Government also violated COA Circular No. 87-278 that mandates all government agencies to submit infrastructure project contracts to the COA auditors within five days from its approval for the conduct of timely review and evaluation of the perfected contracts.

He said the defects and deficiencies noted in the course of evaluation and review may still be recouped before the completion of the projects.

He added that the submissions of these contracts are a prerequisite of their Technical Services Office for the actual inspection of the project.

Misamis Oriental acting provincial auditor Divina Bade vowed that the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) has “duly noted” all the COA findings and recommendations including how all documents must be intact and ready prior to the conduct of bidding and to ensure the submission of these copies to the COA within five days.

“Nevertheless, all legal documents and technical proposal have been duly complied with before any payment to contracts was made,” she said.

Still, Nueva made a rejoinder saying, “Even if all documents and technical proposals had been duly complied with before payments are made, still we cannot do away with the provisions of RA 9184 and that is complete documentation to facilitate approval of the contract by the head of the procuring entity.”

Because of this, he is recommending that the BAC, being directly responsible for the completeness of documentation, should see to it that those required documents are intact before the perfection of the contracts by the Local Chief Executive.

Nueva said the Provincial Engineer, as the department head directly incharged in the implementation of the project, should strictly ensure that all supporting documents are complete before its implementation.

“Management should strictly monitor the submission of contracts to the Provincial Auditor within five (5) working days from its approval for timely review and evaluation,” he said.

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The Commission on Audit (COA) recently found collecting officers from the seven district hospitals in Misamis Oriental to have incurred “cash shortages” when they conducted their cash examination for their annual audit report last year.

In his Annual Audit Report for 2007, COA-Misamis Oriental provincial auditor Florentino Nueva said they discovered that these cash shortages are caused by the long-delay in replenishing the cash advances for dietary and petty cash expenses which is contrary to government auditing rules

He said they found out that the situation is forcing accountable officials to use their hospital fees to purchase subsistence of patients, gasoline for ambulance and other immediate hospital needs.

“It was gathered from these accountable officers that sometimes they have to use their own money or even the personal money of the Chief of Hospitals, just to cater to the immediate needs of the hospitals and its patients,” he said in his report.

Nueva said the whole situation violated Section 8 of COA Circular No. 92-382 that provides how collections should be deposited intact with authorized depositories and that the practice of retaining part of the collections as cash reserve for cash disbursements be discontinued.

Also, he said Section 2(2) of COA Circular No. 97-002 provides that all payments must be made by check and that Section 4.3.1 of the same order mandates that cash advance shall be sufficient for the recurring expenses of the agency for one month.

He added that accountable officers may request replenishment of the cash advance when the disbursements reach at least seventy-five percent, or as the need requires, by submitting a replenishment voucher with all supporting documents duly summarized in a report of disbursement.

Misamis Oriental Acting Provincial Accountant Divina Bade vowed that “innovative procedures” will be taken so as to improve hospital efficiencies and avoid delay in processing the replenishment of these cash advances and petty cash expenses.

She said they will now develop ways and means to simplify and shorten the processing and approval of claims.

However, Bade said the accounting office have encountered some problems as they observed that pending vouchers have some deficiencies in their supporting documents which had not been promptly complied with the concerned hospital.

She added that the speedy processing of these financial documents are further hampered by the limitations of travel schedule of the hospital’s designated “follow-uper” considering the distant locations of the hospitals.

Nueva said the Provincial Accountant must prioritize the processing of these replenishment vouchers and that a review in the process flow of transactions to make sure that checks for the replenishment of the cash advances and petty cash be released the earliest and shortest time possible.

“It will not only improve the efficiency of hospital operation but can effectively help its constituents, particularly the poor and indigent families as to their needs for health services,” he said.

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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) En Banc has turned down the motion that would have reinstalled Nilo Pates as the city mayor of El Salvador, Misamis Oriental.

In its five-page resolution, the Comelec En Banc upheld the decision of the First Division of the Comelec that an “error” was committed by Regional Trial Court branch 41 presiding judge Jeoffre Acebedo.

This when the local trial court judge granted the execution pending appeal in favor of Pates which allowed the mayoral candidate to sit as city mayor earlier.

The Comelec quoted a Supreme Court decision that there must be “good reasons” for the granting of a writ of execution pending appeal considering that Pates won in Acebedo’s court against re-electionist Emelita Almirante.

It scrapped Pates’ argument that there is good reason to have him sit as mayor pending Almirante’s appeal because there is “shortness in time” and that he has already posted a bond.

Lastly, the Comelec En Banc said it cannot grant Pate’s motion that mayoral candidate sit as mayor while Almirante be ousted as Acebedo’s decision failed to “clearly establish” Almirante’s defeat nor Pates’ victory.

The Comelec En Banc said Acebedo’s decision dated Nov. 12, 2007 included how 122 and 49 ballots were considered as marked on the ground that they contain names of political parties on the lines reserved for party-list representatives.

The commissioners explained that it was not enough for Acebedo to just rule that these above ballots be invalidated pursuant to Torres vs. HRET where the Supreme Court’s ruled that if the ballots contain the name of political parties then they should be considered as marked ballots.

For them, Acebedo’s decision did not show whether the Torres vs. HRET case has the same circumstances as the Pates vs. Almirante election case.

The commissioners said the names of the parties may have been written on the line for senators and as such would have been considered markings or that it could be written on the line for party-list representatives which would have shown that the voters were misinformed of the system of partylist voting.

“At any rate, in case of doubt s to the validity of the ballots, such doubt should be resolved in favor of its validity so as not to disenfranchise the voters,” the commissioners said.

The resolution was signed by Comelec chairman Jose Melo, commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Moslemen Macarambon, Leonardo Leonida and Lucenito Tagle.

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