Reyes revives objection vs Manila liaison office

Senate minority leader Pete P. Reyes said there is an “acute lack of logic” in the seemingly popular proposition that the CNMI government set up again a liaison office in the Philippines to attend to patients being referred to that country for treatment.

In strongly objecting to the proposal as embodied in House Bill 14-151, Reyes noted that the CNMI does not generally hire Filipino doctors in the first place because they are not U.S. certified, yet the government sends its patients to the Philippines to be treated by the same doctors.

“I don’t see the rationale. These are the doctors that we reject in the CNMI because they are ineligible to practice here since they are not U.S. certified, [yet] we send our patients to these same doctors,” said Reyes.

He said the CNMI might as well amend its laws to freely hire Filipino doctors and save so much funds in the process.

“If we agree that Filipino doctors are qualified, let’s amend the law and bring them here. But right now, the concept of having an office in Manila just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The senator also acknowledged during the session that there are Filipino doctors who are U.S.-educated and U.S.-trained.

“What I’m saying is that if they are qualified, let’s just bring them here and make it convenient for us,” he said.

Reyes said the creation of the office right now is not good timing since the government is financially broke.

“We can’t even pay the rebates. The government can’t even remit funds to other agencies and can’t even pay its vendors. How can we justify…setting up a new office in Manila?” asked the senator.

Reyes said the government can just make arrangements with Manila on the treatment of CNMI patients without having to set up a liaison office.

“I heard from the Department of Public Health that they can arrange with a hospital, so why not explore that?” he asked.

Rota Sen. Diego Songao said there is no question that sending patients to the Philippines would save the CNMI funds. Airfare to the Philippines, for one, is definitely cheaper compared with Hawaii, where most of the CNMI patients are referred to, he said.

Authorities say that health care costs in the Philippines is about a fifth of the price in Hawaii.

“The issue is about reducing the cost. Now, if we can refer patients to Manila without having an office, it’s fine. Let’s do that. But why do we have an office in Hawaii and Guam? I think it’s time to look at Hawaii and Guam, too,” said Songao.

He said that since 1978, the CNMI has been renting an office in Hawaii. “It costs so much to rent,” he said.

Songao proposed that the government would rather own properties in Hawaii and Guam to save on costs.

“In Washington D.C., we bought the Washington Representative’s office. We need to look at the CNMI’s investments,” said Songao.

Sen. Joseph Mendiola said the intent of House Bill 14-151 is good but it does not cite any source of funds.

Sen. Luis Crisostimo said there is a need for a liaison office in Manila to assist CNMI patients.

“There were three people from Tinian who went to Manila for treatment and there was nobody representing or assisting them there. They were by themselves,” he said.

The senators voted yesterday to refer the bill back to the committee, which is chaired by Sen. Henry San Nicolas.

The CNMI used to maintain a liaison office in Manila to facilitate the hiring of CNMI-bound workers as well as to assist referral patients. It closed the office in September 2000 due to lack of funds.