Senator Pia Cayetano has expressed dismay that the Department of Health (DOH) is no longer accepting recommendations from minority senators for patients seeking to avail themselves of the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program, describing the move as a politicization of medical aid.
Speaking on September 4, 2026, Cayetano questioned why lawmakers aligned with the administration could still assist constituents while minority senators were being shut out. “All the members of the minority — our recommendations are no longer accepted by DOH. So that to me is a very politicized step,” she said, adding that patients who turn to minority offices for help should not be treated as “less Filipino” than those who approach administration senators.
She urged that the alignment of assistance not be dictated by politics, noting the toll on ordinary constituents. “Kawawa naman ‘yong mga constituents namin na humingi lang ng tulong sa amin,” she said, lamenting those who come to their offices simply seeking help.
The complaint is not new for the Cayetano bloc. During a Senate session on August 11, Cayetano said authorities had stopped accepting recommendations from minority senators for MAIFIP, a concern also raised by fellow minority senators Imee Marcos and Bong Go. Months earlier, her brother, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, aired a similar grievance, accusing then-Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa of politicizing the funds after he was allegedly stripped of his ability to refer patients to hospitals.
At the heart of the dispute is an “anti-epal” provision inserted into the 2026 national budget. Lawmakers included the measure in the General Appropriations Act to ban political involvement in aid distribution, with the DOH committing to ensure access for patients “without political interference.” MAIFIP, the DOH’s payer-of-last-resort fund for hospital bills, received a P51-billion allocation for 2026 and has drawn criticism for its vulnerability to patronage, with critics likening it to the Priority Development Assistance Fund struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
The renewed complaint comes as the DOH operates under new leadership. Herbosa stepped down in July 2026, citing health reasons following knee surgery, and President Marcos named Philippine Orthopedic Center head Jose Brittanio Pujalte Jr. as acting health secretary.
