Bishop: Aquino's PhilHealth coverage goals doable

President Benigno Aquino III's goal of health insurance coverage for all Filipinos is doable, a senior Catholic Church official said. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said he feels better about the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) coverage promised by Aquino in his State of the Nation Address (SONA). “What made me feel better is the PhilHealth coverage and I think it is doable," Pabillo said in an article on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. But he said Aquino should first identify the five million poorest people in the country and provide them health insurance coverage. “Sana pansinin yan para maramdaman ng mga tao na may nangyayari para sa kanila (Aquino should pay attention to that so people will feel their needs are being met)," Pabillo said. The prelate added that in the long run, people will look for the outcome of his speech in terms of benefits such as job creation and medicine. “Kasi itong rhetoric na ito na sinasabi eh in the long run, ang makikita dyan ay kung anong nakukuha namin dyan tulad ng benepisyo; pagkain; trabaho; gamot (This rhetoric sounds good but in the long run, people will look for benefits like food, jobs and medicine)," he said. On the other hand, Pabillo chided Aquino for his failure to present his plans on the Freedom of Information (FOI), at least during his SONA. He also said he had expected Aquino to discuss not only the creation of jobs but creation of permanent jobs.— LBG, GMANews.TV