March 29, 2024

The city council has approved a resolution urging the barangays in the city to appropriate an amount in their respective budgets for the purchase of maintenance medicines and other wellness needs for senior citizens.
The resolution stated the budget for the purchase of maintenance medicines and other wellness needs for senior citizens shall be appropriated under the Senior Citizen Fund of the barangays.
It also emphasized the distribution of these maintenance medicines and other wellness needs shall be done in accordance with the guidelines to be set by the City Social Welfare and Development Office and the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs.
Maintenance drugs are prescription drugs used to treat conditions that are considered chronic and long-term. These require intake on a regular basis and for a long period of time. Among the commonly used maintenance drugs are Losartan and Amlodipine for hypertension, Metformin for Diabetes, and Simvastatin for high cholesterol.
Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, author of the resolution, said the Department of Health used to supply maintenance medicines to the local government units. However, because of the implementation of the Mandanas ruling, she said it is now the responsibility of the LGU to provide the health needs of its constituency, which includes the purchase of maintenance medicines.
Tabanda said the Mandanas ruling increased the share of the LGUs including the barangays in the National Tax Allotment, formerly called the Internal Revenue Allotment.
With the increase of the LGUs’ share in all taxes and revenues, the provision of a certain social services has been devolved to the local government. 
“The substantial increase in revenues would enable the barangays to improve the delivery of basic services such as health services to its constituents. With strengthened local autonomy, the barangays now have the administrative autonomy to identify their own priority programs,” she said.
She added the purchase of medicines and other wellness needs for senior citizens is in line with Section 17 of the Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act 7160, which mandates barangays to provide for the deli-very of health servi-ces. – Jordan G. Habbiling