This was the statement made by Biliran Gov. Rogelio "Roger" J. Espina when he presented to Dr. Nemesio T. Gako, undersecretary for Public Health of the Department of Health (DoH) his proposed health program during the health official’s visit to the island province recently.

According to Espina, if all plans push through, the implementation of the program will begin this year while the target completion will be by 2010.

The distribution of investment by reform areas is as follows: service delivery at 64 percent, financing at 17 percent, governance at 15 percent and regulation at 4 percent.

The funding will be sourced from the provincial and municipal local government units, local and foreign financing institutions like the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), European Commission (EC), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), German Technical Services (GTZ), the Department of Health (DoH), and other health-related government programs like the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD).

The goal of the HIP is to improve the health status of Biliranons through greater and more effective coverage of national and local health programs, increase access to quality services of the poor and reduce financial burdens on individual families.

It is expected to reduce maternal mortality; infant mortality rate; deaths due to tuberculosis; and morbidity caused by infectious diseases by at least 5 percent every year.

The province also aims to decrease the number of mortality due to lifestyle and degenerative diseases, and become rabies and leprosy-free by 2010.

Also included in the HIP are health benefits to Biliranons and an increase in universal PhilHealth coverage to 85 percent, reduction of prevalence of underweight children, increase to 90 percent by 2010 the number of households with sanitary toilets, and reduction of incidence of dental caries among schoolchildren and preschoolers by 50 percent also by the end of 2010.

Gov. Espina has also urged local officials here to support the HIP even as he appealed to the local legislators to pass an ordinance for the sustainability of the implementation of the plan — even if some of the incumbent officials are no longer in office by 2007.

Meanwhile, in Iloilo City, a memorandum of agreement (MoA) has been forged between the South East Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and the Office of Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier for the protection, management and development of the island’s coastal resources.

Dr. Joebert Toledo, who represented SEAFDEC during the MoA signing in Antique, said that the project is a replication of a previous activity in Malalison Island of the same province several years back.

Officials of the Antique local government unit, planners and development workers, non-government organizations, community-based organizations, specifically of farmers and fishermen, entrepreneurs and traders are cited as beneficiaries of the endeavor.

They will be exposed to capability-building activities through training and extension works. There will also be participatory research and technology transfer and social preparation and empowerment of the community members and staff of the LGUs.

Toledo confirmed that the office of Javier has released R500,000 of the program’s R5.4-million proposed budget.

Meanwhile, Toledo stressed that they will not be doing the project in Antique alone. He said the provinces of Capiz and Aklan also requested for the establishment of the same project in their area.