CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda has lauded the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for the P1.2 billion in financial assistance it has given ailing and sick Capampangans since 2010.
Pineda also extended her gratitude to PCSO General Manager Alexander F. Balutan during a dialogue with the government agency at the Benigno Aquino Hall here last Friday.
“Since I assumed the governorship in 2010, about 46,000 of our ‘cabalens’ have been given monetary aid by the PCSO amounting to P1.277 billion,” she said. “This was mostly on chemotherapy, dialysis and heart bypass operations.”
The administration of President Duterte now realizes that preventive health care is important, as what is being done in Cuba, Pineda added.
Preventive health care gives medical services to remote villages, she added.
“It is important for the early detection of diseases so that it will not become a cancer or prevent individuals from undergoing dialysis,” Pineda said.
“Congress has passed the universal health-care bill which means that all of our poor cabalens should have PhilHealth and can now avail themselves of the 100-percent free medical benefit from the government, the governor added.
“All poor citizens are now automatically on PhilHealth. If they don’t have PhilHealth, their point of service and point of care will be shouldered by the LGU [local government unit] for automatic zero-balance billing,” she said.
Pineda added President Duterte gives billions of pesos to the Philippine General Hospital and hundreds of millions of pesos more to regional hospitals.
It is for these reasons, she said, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pampanga allotted almost P20 million for the PCSO building at the government center in Barangay Maimpis here, as well as for its equipment and warehouse.
Pineda added she was harshly criticized for giving the PCSO a building when it has billions of pesos in funds.
“If you look at it, what is a mere P20 million given by the Capitol compared to the financial assistance extended by the PCSO to our ailing and sick cabalens?” she asked.
“Maybe I will give even up to a P100 million so that the PCSO building will be further improved, so that our cabalens will have plenty of room and be comforted,” she said amid a round of applause.
Pineda said before, the PCSO office was located in just a small corner in Mabalacat City, and Capampangans had to endure long lines in a small cramped office, even sleeping overnight just to wait for their turn to get assistance from PCSO or travel to Manila.
The governor narrated what a 95-year-old small town lottery (STL) worker told her when she asked him why he looked so young despite his age. “The man said that, for 40 years, he worked in the numbers’ game and was able to send his children to school and, even now, still gives money to them. It even helped him extend his life because his daily walk is his exercise,” Pineda said. He takes no maintenance medication, she added.
The governor said he is just one of hundreds employed by the PCSO.
Pineda also expressed her gratitude to the PCSO provincial and city managers present in the dialogue “because their charity is all over the country by giving millions to our countrymen.”