TONGUE IN CHEEK Mabel P.

Villarica-Mamba My vote is not for sale As early as now, there are reports of money exchanging hands in various parts of the country. Only yesterday, someone texted me about a meeting of barangay officials where the Barangay Chairmen were given 5,000 pesos each and the Barangay Councilmen 1,000 pesos each by the Governor and the Vice Governor. This is the second or third time they did this when the campaign period started. There is also this story where residents of a barangay are paid 300 pesos each to attend the pulongpulong or mini-rally of the incumbent mayor. In another town, the lady mayor distributed 200 pesos each as first installment for the votes of her constituents. So many stories abound, almost the same or similar to the previous elections, and yet vote buying, particularly in the local level, continues. And when there is vote buying, there is always corruption. When there is corruption, government service suffers. When government service suffers, the people suffer. After the operation of district hospitals were devolved by the Department of Health (DOH) to the provincial government, the delivery of health and medical services varied depending on the priorities (or lack thereof) of the governor. True there are outstanding local government units that run the district hospitals within their jurisdiction as good as or even better than private hospitals. However, no one can deny there are a lot more that have deteriorated. In Tuao, Cagayan, the district hospital there was recently downgraded by the DOH to primary from being a secondary-level hospital. From having a 25-bed capacity, it is down to 5. Of course, the term capacity here does not mean the number of beds in the facility but the ability, facility and capability of the hospital in terms of the number and competence of medical personnel including specialists, equipment and medicines to treat patients. In Aparri, the district hospital doesnt even have a generator. When a blackout ensues during a surgery, the doctors have to contend with using candles. The purchase of medicines is another area full of fraud. With the generics law, equally effective medicine is no longer prohibitive. However, we cannot deny that many of our countrymen could not afford to buy medicine for their illness because for a daily wage earner, food takes precedence over other needs. This is where local health service is supposed to come in. Unfortunately, overpriced, poor quality and/or expired drugs are instead purchased. How about provincial roads? We see a lot