Co-Sponsorship Speech
Committee Report No. 28 – Senate Bill No. 1869
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
13 February 2023
Mister President, with the indulgence of the author and sponsor, my beautiful kumare, Senator Pia Cayetano, I would like to co-sponsor Senate Bill No. 1869 entitled: “An Act Creating the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Defining its Powers and Functions” and for other purposes, under Committee Report No. 28.
This bill is among the legislative priority measures mentioned by our President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos in his State of the Nation Address, and I am happy to have co-authored this measure when I filed Senate Bill No. 679.
Communicable and non-communicable diseases continue to pose serious threat to the health and lives of our people. The cure for these diseases and the continuous research on how to prevent them have been the priority of the government along with the synchronization and coordination of efforts of various government entities which have been proven to be equally important in consideration of our experience from the Covid-19 pandemic.
This CDC measure seeks to protect the people from the impact of communicable and non-communicable diseases of public health importance by adopting an integrated, comprehensive and evidence-based approach within a framework that fosters a whole-of-system, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, ensuring clear delineation of tasks between existing agencies and maximizing their current mandates and further harnessing their capabilities.
We intend to establish the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention along with the restructuring of certain offices and services to ensure clear delineation of functions and effective coordination with one another in order to ensure maximum, fast, reliable and efficient performance, most especially in health crises and emergency response.
Bagama’t ayaw na sana nating maulit ang pandemya, hindi natin maikakaila na totoo namang pwedeng maulit ito. Sa anumang hagupit ng sakuna at krisis dulot ng epidemya o pandemya, mahusay na paghahanda ang isa sa ating maasahan na pansangga sa hagupit ng delubyong ito.
We are hoping for the best – that all experiences and lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic response and crises management were all considered in this Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Act.
As Stephen King once said, “There’s no harm in hoping for the best, as long as you’re prepared for the worst.”
That is why Mister President, I enjoin my colleagues to pass this measure.
Thank you, Mister President.