The Department of Health (DOH) is facing renewed scrutiny after senators flagged the absence of funding for 1,823 unfinished health facilities, projects that would require ₱32.4 billion to complete, despite repeated assurances from the national government that completing idle structures would be a priority in next year’s budget.
During the Senate interpellation on the DOH’s proposed ₱262.8 billion budget for 2026 on Monday night, Sen. Pia Cayetano confirmed the scale of the backlog, citing newly consolidated estimates from the agency.
“We actually have 1,823 facilities identified as needing completion with an estimated cost of P32.4 billion,” she said.
Pressed by Sen. Loren Legarda on whether the amount was included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), Cayetano replied that it was not part of the President’s submitted budget proposal. She explained that the DOH was still reviewing the list to determine “which ones are the easy fixes.”
The omission surprised Legarda, who noted that the Department of Budget and Management had earlier stated that finishing incomplete structures would be prioritized over launching new projects.
“I express my frustration because I was informed earlier that the priority would be to finish incomplete structures,” Legarda said. “If we don’t amend the GAB and do not find the P32 billion in the GAA, what happens to the people in the provinces who are awaiting the completion of these hospitals? They would have to wait until 2027 again praying and hoping that the DOH will fund the completion of their health centers.”
The issue adds urgency to long-standing concerns about the DOH’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), which has received more than ₱170 billion in the past decade. If allocations for commodities and human resources are included, the total rises to almost ₱400 billion.
Yet during House plenary deliberations last month, lawmakers were told that only 200 of the 600 HFEP-built health centers were functional as of 2025. Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno, citing earlier statements from Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, pointed to the wide gap between infrastructure spending and actual service delivery.
In the same hearing, DOH budget sponsor Rep. Albert Garcia said many facilities remain non-operational “because of the lack of personnel and health-care professionals who could run them.” He said several local government units that had pledged to provide staff may not have the financial capacity to do so. He added that the matter may need to be referred to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which oversees LGUs.
Cayetano suggested that the allocation of projects between the budget’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 may explain why some facilities were excluded from the NEP. Legarda, however, questioned why hundreds of structures remain unfinished year after year.
“There’s always some unfinished structures, and it’s not just one or two, it’s by the hundreds and hundreds and by the billions of pesos. So why do they start to build all that if they do not complete it?” she asked.
Cayetano attributed part of the problem to zero-based budgeting, saying the DOH “can only ask for the budget that they can consume in a year.”
The discussion also highlighted ongoing implementation gaps within the Health Facilities Enhancement Program. Despite years of infrastructure allocations, a significant number of facilities remain unfinished or non-operational, with both the DOH and local governments citing limits in annual budgeting, staffing capacity, and program prioritization as contributing factors.
