BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program’s (BacCHP) allocation for 2025 is expected to increase by P100 million following the proposed increase for the city government’s annual budget for 2025.
City officials led by Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez had finalized the budget proposal of P4.4 billion for next year during the budget deliberation in Thailand last week.
The said proposed annual budget is much higher that the P3.6-billion budget for 2024.
Mayor Benitez added that the city’s National Tax Allotment (NTA) will also have an increase of P300 million, or from P1.9 billion this year to P2.2 billion next year.
With the increase in the annual budget, the city government would prioritize social services, particularly its flagship health program BacCHP. The city mayor said from the previous P50 million, BacCHP’s budget would be P150 million for next year.
Moreover, the city government is eyeing higher budget for its Bayad Agad program, funeral assistance, and assistance for individuals in crisis situation (AICS), among others.
At present, BacCHP has over 104,000 registered members.
Of the total, almost 5,000 cardholders have already availed of hospitalization services since the flagship health program began in May 2023.
Under the BacCHP ordinance, the city government guarantees P15,000 for the hospital bills of each cardholder and their dependents.
The city’s partner-medical facilities include the Department of Health-retained Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, and private health care institutions Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center, Inc.), Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctor’s Hospital, and Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center./PN
