Ignorant Filipinos

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I’VE been browsing lately on the comments of readers from all over the country in a national daily about the brouhaha brought by the GUICO-C (a medicine equivalent to Ascorbic Acid + Zinc like the ImmunoPro) given for free to the constituents of Governor Monmon Guico in Pangasinan.

Some of the scathing comments there anchored how the reelectionist governor “hijacked” the PhilHealth Konsulta (the precursor of the Yakap that gives P20,000 free medicines to a patient yearly) and how he pocketed P300 of the P1,700 allocated by the PhilHealth to each of the beneficiary. 

Those comments were virtually false from ignorant Filipinos!  

PHILHEALTH KONSULTA is a national health insurance benefit program, while GUICONSULTA is a local complementary project created by the provincial government of Pangasinan under Governor Ramon V. Guico III to help register residents and encourage them to use the national program. To solve the problem of residents missing out on checkups due to travel costs, GUICONSULTA provides localized barangay-based registration drives and financial assistance of P300 for food, transportation allowances, possible deduction of their daily pay because of their absence from the work site, and others per enrollee to help him/her visits accredited government hospitals and facilities. PHILHEALTH KONSULTA provides on the other hand P1,700 annual capitation rate per registered patient yearly.

Philhealth Vice President Dennis Adre said the P1,700 capitation goes to the member’s laboratory fees. It is also used for maintenance medicines of the member to include antibiotics, anti-diabetes, and hypertension medicines which is in contrary to what detractors claimed about reimbursements.

In February 2025 Governor Guico received the "Kampeon ng Kalusugan sa mga Komunidad" (Health Champion in Communities) award from the Department of Health (DOH) in recognition of the province's breakthrough primary healthcare initiatives, highlighted by the Guiconsulta or Government Unified Incentives for Medical Consultation program.

DOH exhorted the stakeholders in the rest of the provinces in the country to emulate Governor Guico on his phenomenal brainchild.

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LET’S go back to the commotion brought by the GUICO-C.

Here’s a post I saw from the Facebook Page’s Ilocano Avenue:

“Sa gitna ng mga komento at alegasyong kumakalat sa social media, kasabay ng maagang pag-init ng usaping pampolitika kaugnay ng susunod na halalan, nanawagan ang Pamahalaang Panlalawigan ng Pangasinan sa publiko na maging mapanuri sa mga impormasyong kumakalat tungkol sa Guico-C.

Ayon dito, hindi dapat manaig ang fake news at black propaganda habang nagpapatuloy ang libreng pamamahagi ng FDA-registered na produkto sa ilalim ng GUICONSULTA program.

Sa isa sa mga lugar na binisita ni Gov. Monmon, personal na ipinaliwanag niya sa mga benepisyaryo ang Guico-C at ang libreng pamamahagi nito bilang bahagi ng programa.

“Ito po ay FDA-approved. Ang katumbas po nito ay Ascorbic Acid + Zinc, gaya ng ImmunoPro,” ani ni Governor Guico III.

Ayon sa gobernador, mas potent at mas mura umano ang produkto, ngunit libre itong ibinibigay sa mga benepisyaryo ng GUICONSULTA.

Nilinaw naman ng Pamahalaang Panlalawigan na donasyon ang Guico-C at walang pondong panlalawigan na ginamit sa pagbili nito. Ayon din dito, hindi umano maaaring i-procure ng pamahalaan ang Ascorbic Acid + Zinc bilang combination drug dahil hindi ito nakalista sa Philippine National Drug Formulary sa naturang kombinasyon”.

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I hope you readers including those ignoramuses that perpetuate lies on the PhilHealth Konsulta and Guiconsulta are now enlightened.