BY MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – This city will amend City Ordinance No. 1014, or the Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) ordinance, by adding security features.
This comes after the city government’s discovery of five patients, who are not city residents, taking advantage of the health program.
BacCHP focal person Mae Cuaycong said the proposed amendment of the ordinance would make way for security features after the discovery of some fraudulent acts like falsifying the declaration of residency issued by the respective barangays.
She said they only wanted to make sure that the beneficiaries of the health program are really residents of Bacolod and non-city residents are not allowed to avail of it.
Cuaycong added that Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez wants to help those who are in need of assistance but the city would also have to make sure that the recipients are Bacolod residents.
“May ara kami nagligad ginpa-hold nga BacCHP [beneficiary]. Naghambal ako kay Mayor daw damo na residents ang Bacolod, kay ang iban nagalusot. Pero kon pangayoan mo sang ila supporting identification cards (IDs), indi valid nga taga-Bacolod pero naga-claim nga ari diri naga-istar ila bata,” she said.
Cuaycong cited one senior citizen who is not a city resident but has a child who is a resident of Bacolod and a member of BacCHP. She said when the elderly would be hospitalized they seek assistance using the BacCHP membership of his child.
To confirm that the beneficiaries of BacCHP members are bonafide residents of Bacolod, the city government would require members availing themselves of the health program to present two valid IDs indicating they are city residents.
In case of only one valid ID, Cuaycong said they will confirm the residency through the the list of voters from the city’s Commission on Elections office.
Cuaycong also said they are planning to impose penalties or sanctions to those individuals doing fraudulent acts.
At present, BacCHP has about 104,000 members and close to 5,000 cardholders have already availed themselves of the service.
The city government has also expanded BacCHP assistance to cover burial expenses through a memorandum of agreement with 11 funeral parlors./PN
