Previous Story
‘Senators on fact-finding mission in Manila’
|
Posted on May 06 2005
Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano said that four senators are currently in Manila for “a fact-finding mission” in connection with the proposed liaison office in that country.
Adriano said that the mission was originally scheduled over a year ago but was aborted when four CNMI citizens were arrested in Manila.
“There were strong objections so that plan was shelved. We had that incident [the arrests] then,” said the senator.
He said that Senate Health Committee chair Sen. Henry San Nicolas and senators Joseph Mendiola and Luis Crisostimo left for Manila last Tuesday. On Thursday, Sen. Thomas Villagomez followed the three, he added.
Adriano said the four senators are expected to return on Tuesday.
“There are only two direct flights to and from Manila: Tuesday and Thursday. They’ll be back on Tuesday,” he said.
Adriano said that the trip is “purely to find out if it’s feasible to open Manila liaison office” as proposed by a House-approved bill authored by Rota Rep. Crispin Ogo.
Meantime, Adriano said that he does not support the idea of just putting up a liaison office for Rota and Tinian patients.
Mendiola earlier said that the Senate may favor just having a Tinian and Rota liaison office if Saipan lawmakers would not support it.
“That’s not really right. We can’t discriminate against patients,” said the senator.
He said the real issue that must be dealt with is the fact that most CNMI patients are Medicaid and Medicare members, which means that their federally funded insurance would not be accepted in Manila hospitals.
“That’s why we must listen to the Department of Public Health,” he said, noting that the Senate is inclined to call DPH officials to speak up on the proposed liaison office.
“If we open an office, we better make sure that our patients get treated in Manila hospitals. That’s my real concern,” he said.
The CNMI used to run a liaison office in Manila, attending to medical referral patients as well as to CNMI-bound workers. The office reportedly spent some $500,000 a year.
Recently, senators said that Guam pays an agent to attend to its referral patients in Manila at a cost of about $100,000 a year.
