Sliding into irrelevance? Ateneo Policy Center hosts brown bag session on local health financing in the Philippines

The Ateneo School of Government, through the Ateneo Policy Center, hosted a brown bag session titled “Sliding into Irrelevance? A Brown Bag Session on Local Health Financing in the Philippines”, held on 4 February 2026 at the Pacifico Ortiz Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, and via Zoom. This event is part of its project Maximizing Local Government Fiscal Performance of Health Budget, supported by the Unilab Center for Health Policy.

The session provided a platform for dialogue on the current state of local health financing in the Philippines, bringing together participants from national government agencies, local government units (LGUs), development partners, academe, and civil society.
 

The event opened with remarks from Ivyrose S Baysic, Head of the Ateneo Policy Center, who welcomed participants and underscored the importance of dialogue on local health financing, setting the stage for an interactive discussion combining research insights with practical experiences from the wide range of participants.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of Dr Maria Eufemia C Yap, Senior Research Fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, who shared key findings from their mixed methods study on local health financing in the Philippines. Drawing on research across five LGUs, they found that local health spending is not irrelevant but highly fragmented and often poorly visible across multiple funding streams. Through the study’s 4P+I framework, several key challenges in policy, priority-setting, process, proficiency, and information management were identified, affecting how health funds are planned, allocated, and utilized at the local level.

The session included an interactive discussion moderated by Dr Kristine Berlynn E De Ramos-Afuang, Deputy Project Lead of the Project. Participants exchanged experiences from the field and explored innovative approaches to strengthen local health financing.

In closing, Dean Jennifer “Apple” S Oreta emphasized that local health financing is not just an accounting matter but a reflection of institutional capacity and governance. She noted that strengthening LGUs’ role in health financing offers a tangible opportunity to reduce inequities, improve service delivery, and build trust between communities and the health system.

This event reaffirmed the Ateneo School of Government’s commitment to facilitating evidence-informed dialogue and collaborative partnerships that advance a strong and equitable health system in the Philippines.