IMPLEMENTING agencies were prodded to roll out the P500 monthly grocery discount for millions of senior citizens and persons with disability.

During a meeting of the House of Representatives committee on ways and means, Deputy Majority Leader and Erwin Tulfo of ACT-CIS party-list followed up on the promise the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gave Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez last week on the increased discount.

The present discount is P65 a week or P260 a month. This would go up to P125 a week or P500 a month.

Tulfo said he attended the Speaker’s meeting with DTI Undersecretary Carolina Sanchez and would like to inquire from the implementing agencies “how we are doing.”

He said Sanchez’s commitment was to effect the increase in the grocery discount on basic food items, meat and agricultural products by the end of this month.

“We have to have it quickly,” he said.

Director Marcus N. Valdez of DTI’s Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau informed the committee that the DTI is now coordinating with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Energy (DoE) for the implementation of the increased discount.

“We confirm the promise made last week and the timeline,” he said.

On the other hand, Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Consumer Affairs and concurrent for Legislative Affairs Genevieve E. Velicaria-Guevarra said public consultations are scheduled to be held on March 11 and 12 before the increased discount is given.

Tulfo also followed up on the promise of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) officials to Speaker Romualdez on the increase in the discount on hospital bills and professional fees of patients from 30 percent to 50 percent.

“May pondo kayo, may subsidy pa kayo (from the national government). In our calculation, Philhealth can afford to shoulder 50 percent of the cost of hospitalization and professional fees,” he said.

He said Philhealth members, who are mostly employees, find it hard to shoulder 70-percent of the cost, given the present 30-percent subsidy rate.

“Mabigat yung 70 percent,” he said, adding that many patients resort to borrowing money to pay for medical care.

“Dadaan po ‘yan sa aming board (of directors) and execom (executive committee),” a Philhealth representative told Tulfo, who reminded Philhealth of another promise: shouldering the cost of basic diagnostics like ultrasound and mammogram.

The ACT-CIS lawmaker said breast cancer “is one of the top five causes of death of Filipino women.”

“Breast cancer can be prevented by early detection through ultrasound and mammogram. We can encourage women to undergo prompt screening if these procedures are free of charge,” he said.