When You Pull the Plug on Political Lifelines, Watch the Old Guard Reach for Their Complaint Forms
By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — January 11, 2026
WHEN Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa stood before Palace reporters and declared with quiet confidence that
“Wala nang GL because may zero balance na… hindi ka na dadaan sa politiko”
many of us who have chronicled the slow, painful death of Philippine public healthcare wanted — for once — to believe the announcement.
A program that lets the poor walk straight into a DOH hospital, get admitted under basic ward, receive full treatment, pay zero pesos, and leave without ever shaking hands with a congressman or senator?
That would be the single most significant blow against patronage politics in the health sector in the last thirty years.
But in the Philippines, beautiful policy slogans have a long and tragic history of bleeding out on the hospital floor.
So let us do what we have always done here in the Kweba: cut through the ribbon-cutting rhetoric with cold steel.
I. The Claim Under the Microscope
Secretary Herbosa’s Core Assertion (verbatim):
“The reason we put up zero balance billing is so hindi ka na dadaan sa politiko.”
What the policy actually covers today (January 2026):
- Only 83 DOH-managed hospitals
- Only basic ward accommodation
- Specialty GOCC hospitals (Heart Center, Lung Center, NKTI, PCMC, etc.) receive additional funding but are not yet under full baseline ZBB
- LGU hospitals → still in pilot phase with PHP 1 billion earmarked
- Private hospitals → completely outside the scope unless separate arrangements are made
- Old MAIFIP rules (including acceptance of GLs/request letters) remain in force until new IRRs are issued (target: mid-February 2026)
In plain language:
The gate is half-closed, not locked. Politicians can still issue letters; hospitals can still accept them; the patient can still end up paying or begging if the hospital runs out of slots, medicines, or patience.
The claim is aspirational and directionally correct — but not yet factual on the ground.
II. The Balance Sheet — What Works, What Bleeds
| Aspect | Pro-Reform View (The Hope) | Ground Reality (The Critique) |
|---|---|---|
| Patronage Politics | Anti-epal provision (Sec. 19, 2026 GAA) legally bans political branding and intervention | Politicians can still issue “personal” checks, request letters, or fund through other offices |
| Financial Access | 1.1 million beneficiaries; up to PHP 2.7 M covered per case | Overcrowding + supply shortages = informal charges, delays, or outright refusal in some facilities |
| Equity | Direct hospital access removes political gatekeepers | Specialty care, provincial access, and LGU hospitals remain major gaps → new form of postcode lottery |
| Budget Momentum | PHP 448 B (73% jump); nearing the long-advocated PHP 450 B UHC target | Historical pattern: big budgets → poor absorption → idle equipment → COA flags |
| Political Cost | Threatens entrenched interests → explains ferocity of attacks | Herbosa’s own record (Ombudsman cases, expired drugs, idle equipment) provides ammunition |
III. The Deeper Truth: Why the Pushback is So Savage
Make no mistake: the people screaming loudest that “Herbosa is incompetent” are often the same ones who benefited most from the old GL ecosystem.
Every time a patient no longer needs to line up at a politician’s office with a photo of a sick child, a vote-bank shrinks.
Every time a hospital cashier is told “no more GLs accepted,” a quiet stream of grease money dries up.
Every time a mayor or congressman loses the power to play God with medical assistance, a piece of feudal control evaporates.
Herbosa is far from perfect. The list is long and ugly:
- COA findings on idle equipment worth hundreds of millions
- Expired psychiatric drugs released
- Multiple Ombudsman complaints (some petty, some serious)
- Past COVID-era controversies that still sting
Yet the intensity of the campaign against him is disproportionate to the usual bureaucratic incompetence.
It smells like the desperate howl of a system that suddenly feels the noose tightening around its neck.
IV. What Must Happen Next — Concrete, Urgent Steps
- Release the new MAIFIP IRRs before March 2026 — crystal clear, zero tolerance for political GLs or request letters.
- Massive, no-nonsense public information campaign — radio, barangay health workers, TikTok, church announcements: “Libre na sa basic ward. Walang GL. Dire-diretso sa hospital.”
- Real-time public dashboard — number of ZBB patients served, funds disbursed, hospitals compliant, complaints logged. Transparency kills rumors.
- Fast-track integration with PhilHealth — so specialty and LGU cases are not orphaned.
- Aggressive provincial hospital upgrading — stop the urban tertiary hospitals from choking on the influx.
- Permanent anti-epal legislation — not just one year’s GAA provision. Make it law across all welfare programs.
The Final Verdict
Zero Balance Billing is not yet the revolution Secretary Herbosa announced.
It is, however, the most serious attempt in memory to pull the plug on the political IV drip that has kept Philippine public healthcare sick, dependent, and humiliated for decades.
The patients do not need more photo-ops.
They need hospital beds that are not overflowing, medicines that are not expired, and a system that does not require them to kiss the ring of any politician to stay alive.
If Herbosa can close the gap between promise and delivery — if the Palace and Congress will give him the runway instead of the guillotine — then history may yet remember this moment as the beginning of the end of medical patronage.
If not…
then the queues will simply grow longer, the politicians will simply find new branding opportunities, and the poor will continue to pay — in blood, in debt, and in dignity — for a freedom that was announced but never quite delivered.
We are watching.
And we will keep writing until the promise matches the pain on the ground.
- — Barok, from the kweba, where the truth is free… unlike the healthcare we’re still fighting for.
Source:
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- ₱1.35 Trillion for Education: Bigger Budget, Same Old Thieves’ Banquet
- ₱1 Billion Congressional Seat? Sorry, Sold Out Na Raw — Si Bello Raw Ang Hindi Bumili
- “We Will Take Care of It”: Bersamin’s P52-Billion Love Letter to Corruption
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- “My Brother the President Is a Junkie”: A Marcos Family Reunion Special
- “Mapipilitan Akong Gawing Zero”: The Day Senator Rodante Marcoleta Confessed to Perjury on National Television and Thought We’d Clap for the Creativity
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- “Allocables”: The New Face of Pork, Thicker Than a Politician’s Hide
- “Ako ’To, Ading—Pass the Shabu and the DNA Kit”
KWEBA ni BAROK 
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