Photo Release

Cayetano resumes deliberations on DOH’s proposed 2022 budget: Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Finance Subcommittee D, presides over Wednesday, October 20, 2021, the virtual hearing on the P242.2 billion proposed 2022 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) and its attached agencies. Cayetano sought clarification from Health Sec. Francisco Duque III as to why it took the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) more than a year to finish the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 11509 or the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act. “I was so shocked and felt so bad because I have made a commitment to our colleagues to provide funding for every state university and college that would be increasing their capacity to accommodate more students, and then we learned that the IRR was passed only on September 7. There seems to be no sense of urgency on the part of CHED to get this going,” Cayetano said. Duque assured the committee that he would talk to CHED chairman Prospero de Vera and ask him to further push the program more aggressively. Senate President Vicente Sotto III is the principal sponsor of Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, a medical scholarship and return service program, which grants scholarships to deserving students aspiring to become physicians. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)