Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he will refuse to sign the bicameral conference committee report on the 2026 national budget unless provisions granting a massive increase for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and billions for farm-to-market roads are corrected.
Lacson issued the warning Sunday after the bicameral panel approved raising MAIFIP’s proposed 2026 budget to ₱51 billion and allocating ₱33 billion for farm-to-market roads.
“Sorry, unless rectified in its final version, I cannot sign to ratify a bicam report with P51 billion for MAIFIP, with nothing but guarantee letters from politicians and is not compliant with the Universal Health Care Act. Further, I will not associate myself with the P33-billion spending for unplanned and unvetted farm-to-market roads,” said Lacson.
“Unless we adequately fund the UHC programs such that they cover all barangays and ensure zero billing, among others., we cannot fully implement the UHC law that we passed. All health-related funds must be subsumed under the Universal Health Care program of the Department of Health. Guarantee letters from politicians will only guarantee patronage politics but not the health care needs of Filipinos, especially the indigents,” he stressed.
He added that he would also not associate himself with the ₱33-billion allocation for what he described as unplanned and unvetted farm-to-market roads.
Lacson stressed that health-related funds should be fully subsumed under the Universal Health Care program to ensure coverage of all barangays and the implementation of zero billing for patients.
He warned that the continued use of guarantee letters from politicians in MAIFIP would only perpetuate patronage politics rather than address the health care needs of indigent Filipinos.
During the first day of bicameral deliberations, lawmakers raised MAIFIP’s allocation above the ₱42 billion in 2025 and higher than both the House proposal of ₱49 billion and the Senate version that cut it to ₱29 billion, while also increasing farm-to-market roads funding beyond the National Expenditure Program level.
Lacson, who has filed Senate Bill 404 to place MAIFIP firmly under the Universal Health Care framework, has also questioned whether the list of farm-to-market roads to be funded came from the Department of Agriculture or from lawmakers themselves.
