The liberal/social progressive bloc in the House of Representatives is seeking a congressional inquiry into the alleged misuse of funds allotted for the Department of Health’s (DOH) health facilities enhancement program (HFEP), which was earlier tagged by Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa himself as their agency’s equivalent of the flood control mess.
On Wednesday, Mamamayang Rep. Leila de Lima as well as the Akbayan bloc composed of Reps. Chel Diokno, Perci Cendana, Dadah Ismula and Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao separately filed House Resolution No. 353 and HR No. 351 directing the committees on public accounts and health to probe the alleged mismanagement of the HFEP.
Diokno brought up this issue during the plenary deliberations for the DOH’s proposed P253-billion budget for 2026, where he discovered that only 200 out of 600 special health centers under the program were functional. He noted that Herbosa himself characterized the agency’s travails with HFEP as their ‘flood control version.’
For her part, De Lima likened it to ‘haunted hospitals-abandoned, incomplete, or nonoperational hospitals, health centers, and similar facilities.’
‘Picture this: There is funding for hospitals and health centers, but it is not completed or not completed on purpose; if there is, it is not operational and left to be abandoned. Who is it for – for ghosts?’ she said. Echoed Diokno: ‘This is a matter that needs to be looked into because the health of the Filipino people is at stake. Hundreds of billions of pesos have been allotted for this program, yet it has not delivered on its promise of accessible healthcare for our countrymen.’
During budget hearings, the DOH disclosed that a total of P400 billion had been released to local government units over the last 10 years under the HFEP.
Next year it is expected to get another P14.5 billion for the construction, rehabilitation, and upgrading of barangay health stations, rural health units, and other medical facilities in various areas across the country.
Senior appropriations vice chair and Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia clarified that the HFEP had no ghost health facilities but rather around 400 idle centers pending the deployment of doctors, nurses and midwives.
In her resolution, however, De Lima said the program was ‘replete with allegations of misuse of DOH funds on other infrastructure projects.’
She cited Sen. Pia Cayetano’s revelation during a Senate hearing that contractors linked with anomalous government projects – such as Legacy Construction, St. Timothy Construction and Royal Crown Monarch Construction – had been awarded contracts under the program but have yet to finish these centers or worse, abandoned them.
De Lima also cited another example in Northern Samar, where the provincial government and the DOH signed a 2017 agreement to build the P800-million New Samar Provincial Hospital.
However, the project stalled even after the release of P400 million. The Development Bank of the Philippines later approved a loan to continue construction, yet as of 2025, the hospital remains unfinished and in disrepair. These irregularities, the Akbayan resolution said, undermine the objectives of Republic Act No. 11223, otherwise known as the Universal Health Care Act, which guarantees equitable access to quality healthcare for all Filipinos.