Manila, Philippines – The Coalition for People’s Right to Health today strongly endorsed two critical legislative measures currently under consideration in Congress. These bills represent a fundamental shift toward a truly equitable and accessible public health system. We call on lawmakers to immediately pass the bill mandating at least 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the annual public health budget. We also urge the passage of the bill to remove the 12% value-added tax (VAT) for all essential drugs, medicines, and nutritional foods.

For decades, the Philippine government has failed its constitutional duty to protect and promote the right to health. Despite the 1987 Constitution’s clear mandate, the State remains grossly underfunded in health. Public spending hovers around just 1.5% of GDP, which is one of the lowest rates in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Filipino households bear a crushing burden. They shelled out ₱615.16 billion in 2024 alone for out-of-pocket health expenses. This amount represents 42.7% of the country’s total health expenditure. This is a system that punishes the poor for getting sick and forces families into poverty with every prescription filled.

The proposed 5% GDP health budget bill is not merely a fiscal adjustment. It is a moral imperative. Based on 2025 GDP figures, allocating 5% translates to approximately ₱1.4 trillion. This sum is sufficient to transform our public health infrastructure, hire thousands of needed health workers, and ensure free, comprehensive, quality care in public health facilities. This funding can be responsibly sourced by rechanneling non-productive expenditures. This includes the ₱2.1 trillion spent annually on debt servicing, confidential funds, and pork barrel. It can also come from implementing progressive taxation, such as a wealth tax on billionaires and higher corporate taxes.

At the same time, the bill to exempt all essential medicines and nutritional foods from VAT is a long-overdue correction to a broken system. Currently, only a narrow slice of medicines covers just seven specific diseases. These are the only ones that are VAT-exempt. The vast majority of life-saving treatments, vitamins, antibiotics, and nutritional supplements remain subject to a 12% tax. According to Ibon Foundation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) periodic updates of VAT-exempt list strictly focus on medicines for non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, cancer, mental illness, tuberculosis, and kidney diseases. As of February 2026, there are 2,263 VAT-exempt medicines for such diseases. But this accounts for only 5% of the 50,000 recorded government-procured medicines as of 2019. Still, over-the-counter products like paracetamol, vitamins and mineral supplements, cough and cold medicines, antibiotics, antacids and many others remain taxable.

This situation is untenable. Medicine prices in the Philippines run 22 to 184 times higher than international reference prices. Adding VAT to these essentials is a direct assault on the right to life. We demand that the tax exemption be expanded to cover all essential drugs and nutritional products as defined by the Philippine National Formulary. This will ensure that no Filipino is denied medicine due to cost.

Together, these bills form the backbone of a free, comprehensive, and progressive national public health agenda. Increased public funding will reduce reliance on out-of-pocket payments and private insurance. VAT exemption will immediately lower the cost of care at the point of service. As the World Health Organization and local studies have affirmed, a 5% GDP investment in health is not only feasible but essential for economic productivity and poverty reduction.

The Coalition for People’s Right to Health stands with the sponsors of these bills, ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. Antonio L. Tinio, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago, and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. Renee Louise M. Co. We join the Filipino people in urging Congress to act now. The people cannot wait any longer. Health is a right, not a privilege. We demand that these bills be passed into law without delay. The Coalition for People’s Right to Health is a broad alliance of health workers, patients’ groups, academe, faith-based organizations, and civil society organizations committed to realizing the constitutional right to health for all Filipinos through advocacy, mobilization, and policy reform.##