The House of Representatives on Tuesday elected Manila Rep. Giselle Maceda as head of the chamber’s health committee, a week after the post was vacated following the death of its previous chairman.
Maceda, a medical doctor specializing in dermatology who represents Manila’s fourth district, will head the panel tasked with overseeing legislation on public health systems, hospital creation and congressional health investigations.
She is taking over the health panel following the death of Batanes Rep. Ciriaco Gato, who died of cardiac arrest on Sept. 21. Maceda was the committee’s vice chairwoman during Gato’s tenure.
Maceda assumes the panel’s leadership as it co-hosts hearings with the Ways and Means Committee on a proposed excise tax hike on sugary drinks, a measure that has drawn pushback from beverage groups.
Proposals by lawmakers seek to raise the rate for beverages sweetened with caloric or noncaloric sweeteners from the current P6 to P9 to P20 per liter, and to raise the rate for beverages containing high-fructose corn syrup from P12 to as much as P40 per liter.