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  LET’S GRANT THE FREEDOM TO USE ONLINE TELEMEDICINE CONSULTATIONS Telemedicine is no longer a pandemic experiment. It is the future knocking at our clinic doors. In 2026, the government is pushing to institutionalize online consultations as a permanent part of healthcare delivery. While private hospitals and clinics have long allowed doctors to decide whether to offer online consultations, the real issue lies elsewhere: reimbursement. If insurance companies—including PhilHealth—do not fully recognize and pay for teleconsults, then this “freedom” becomes theoretical rather than practical. To its credit, PhilHealth has rebranded and expanded its primary care package into PhilHealth YAKAP (Yaman ng Kalusugan Program), replacing the old Konsulta package. The reforms are significant. The medicine list under GAMOT has expanded from 21 to over 75 essential drugs. Cancer screening such as mammograms and ultrasounds is now integrated. The old eKonsulta system is being phased out in favor o...

  IS IT POSSIBLE TO STANDARDIZE PROFESSIONAL DOCTOR’S FEES IN THE PHILIPPINES? The debate over whether professional doctor’s fees (PFs) should be standardized is no longer theoretical. With the push toward universal health care, the Philippines is now asking a difficult but necessary question: can predictable pricing make healthcare more accessible—especially for the poor—without discouraging doctors from practicing locally? Many countries have already experimented with some form of standardized or negotiated medical fees. In Japan, the government maintains one of the world’s strictest national fee schedules, setting a uniform price for virtually every medical service nationwide. In France and Germany, physician fees are negotiated between medical associations and national insurance systems, creating predictable price ranges for most patients. Meanwhile, Australia and Canada use reimbursement-based systems in which the government establishes a standard fee, although some flexibilit...

  LET’S CONVERT ALL PRIVATE RESORTS INTO WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AREAS This may sound radical at first: convert all private resorts into Wildlife Conservation Areas (WCAs). But perhaps the real question is not whether the idea is radical, but whether the ecological crisis we face demands equally bold solutions. Resorts are usually built on prime ecological real estate—coastlines, coral reefs, forests, wetlands, and mountain ridges. These are precisely the habitats where wildlife needs protection the most. If even a portion of the thousands of resorts worldwide were transformed into conservation zones, the cumulative environmental benefit could be enormous: restored habitats, connected wildlife corridors, reduced water consumption, and significant cuts in pollution and energy use. The idea is not theoretical. Around the world, several resorts have already taken this path. The Misool Eco Resort helped establish a 300,000-acre marine protected area that dramatically increased shark and ...

  LET’S HAVE MORE BIRD SANCTUARIES Who would have thought that Ayala Alabang Village is a bird sanctuary? And who would have imagined that the sprawling campus of University of the Philippines Diliman functions as one too? What makes these two examples remarkable is that neither waited for a national proclamation. In the case of Ayala Alabang, the initiative was private—led by residents and the homeowners’ association, with support from the Muntinlupa LGU. In UP Diliman, the protection of birds is embedded in university policy and decades of environmental advocacy. No grand ceremony. No complicated bureaucracy. Just a decision to protect trees, regulate harmful activities, and let nature thrive. Of course, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has a formal process for declaring national wildlife sanctuaries under the NIPAS and E-NIPAS laws. That process requires scientific profiling, mapping, public consultations, and eventually a presidential proclamation or e...

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS AND PRIVATE CORPORATIONS CAN DONATE TO COOPERATIVES One of the most underutilized economic development tools in the Philippines is the simple act of supporting cooperatives through structured donations and grants. The law already allows it. The policy environment already encourages it. What seems to be missing is aggressive implementation. Under the Philippine Cooperative Code and related laws, cooperatives are authorized to receive grants, donations, and other forms of assistance from both government and private institutions. The mandate is further strengthened by the charter of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), which specifically directs the State to provide technical and financial assistance to help cooperatives grow into viable enterprises. This is not charity—it is an economic strategy. Government agencies have long supported cooperatives through equipment donations, training programs, and grants-in-aid. For example, the Depar...

  AGRICULTURE BUSINESS INCUBATORS, ANYONE? The Philippines has made significant progress in establishing Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) that help transform research ideas into profitable startups. But if we truly want to modernize our rural economy and uplift farmers’ incomes, perhaps it is time to scale up a parallel effort focused specifically on agriculture: the nationwide expansion of Agriculture Business Incubators (ABIs). In simple terms, an ABI is a “startup training ground” for agripreneurs. It provides access to laboratories, greenhouses, processing facilities, mentorship from scientists and business experts, market linkages, and even legal assistance for business registration and intellectual property protection. Instead of leaving innovators to struggle alone, the incubator environment shortens the path from research to commercialization. The country already has a foundation to build on. Programs supported by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Nat...