PhilHealth director Risa Hontiveros’ television advertisements were made and aired to boost her chances of winning in the 2016 senatorial elections. She and her partylist group Akbayan hope that she would fare better this time despite having served as loyal servants and defenders of Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s anti-worker and anti-poor presidency.
The ads confirm that Hontiveros was appointed to PhilHealth not to improve the agency’s service to its members but as part of the preparation for her Senate run. We have already said that she does not have a track record of service to workers. Her appointment is part of patronage politics donning the guise of “daang matuwid.”
We have every reason to believe that public funds are being used to pay for the airing of the advertisement, which cost less than half a million per airing. The ads are being projected as public service announcements, and the claim of Akbayan media officers that “no public funds” were used in their creation and airing can only be pure hogwash.
The ads confirm that Akbayan is indeed part of the country’s rotten political system, “bahagi ng bulok na sistema ng pulitika.” It is only trying to deceive the people and prettify the rotten system when it claims that it is fighting for its “reform agenda” in government. We are calling on Filipinos to reject Hontiveros and Akbayan in the polls. Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson
Posted By: Lynne Pingoy
