EDITORIAL: Haunted Healthcare

It is both outrageous and heart-breaking that, in a country where millions of Filipinos still struggle to access even the most basic health services, billions in public funds intended for hospitals and health centers are allegedly being misused—or worse, lost to corruption.

House Deputy Minority Leader and ML Representative Leila de Lima has called for a congressional inquiry into the alarming state of the Department of Health’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), a multi-billion peso initiative supposedly designed to build and upgrade medical facilities across the country.

Instead of completed hospitals teeming with life-saving equipment and personnel, what the public sees are abandoned construction sites, ghost-like structures, and unopened doors where healing should be happening.

In House Resolution 353, de Lima rightly points to “many factual and legal issues” surrounding the delayed or non-operational health centers and hospitals. A 2024 Commission on Audit (COA) report revealed that 123 projects worth P11.5 billion were not completed within contract deadlines.

And in the House’s deliberation on the DOH’s proposed P253 billion budget for 2026, Rep. Chel Diokno noted that only 200 out of 600 health centers under the HFEP are actually operational—mostly due to a lack of personnel.

This is more than an issue of delayed infrastructure—it is a matter of life and death. Too many Filipinos delay or avoid seeking medical care because of high costs. Some die without ever seeing a doctor. Others fall into debt trying to survive. Now we learn that billions meant to alleviate this very suffering are either unused, mismanaged, or unaccounted for.

De Lima’s biting remark—“Department of Health or Department of Haunted Hospitals?”—may seem sarcastic, but it reflects the bitter reality that many communities face: healthcare centers that exist only on paper, buildings with no doctors, and hospitals that are shells of what they were meant to be.

This should not be the norm. Filipinos deserve fully functional, accessible, and affordable healthcare. If funds have been misused, those responsible must be held accountable.

A congressional inquiry is not just necessary—it is urgent. Public trust and, more importantly, human lives are at stake.

This government cannot claim to care for the people while allowing hospitals to rot and funds to vanish. We need answers, and we need action. The ghosts haunting these hospitals must be exorcised with truth, transparency, and justice.