MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte plans to use the P5 billion he received from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation for his social fund to revive nationwide community pharmacies.

“When we turned over the P5 billion, his original plan is for the resurrection of the Botika ng Bayan (Pharmacy of the People),” said PAGCOR Assistant Vice President community relations and services Arnell Ignacio said on Wednesday, November 30, during a Palace news briefing.

On Monday, PAGCOR chairperson Andrea Domingo turned over the funds to Duterte during their meeting in Malacañang, which will go to the President’s Social Fund.

Duterte announced in August that he planned to use PAGCOR funds to bring back the Department of Health’s Botika ng Bayan program.

The Arroyo administration launched the Botika ng Bayan (Pharmacy of the People) in 2005 with the aim of least one Botika ng Bayan outlet per city or municipality, to provide the community with medicines most needed in the area.

Ignacio said Duterte wants Botika ng Bayan outlets to give free medicine to the poor.

“The President wants that, when patients are given a prescription for medicines, the medicines are available for free,” said Ignacio in Filipino.

Duterte wants Botika ng Bayan spread all over the country to give people in remote areas access to medicines.

When it was first implemented, the government franchised outlets to non-governmental organizations, cooperatives, trade and labor unions, corporate foundations, or religious groups.

According to the DOH, there are 16,350 outlets of Botika ng Bayan and its variants all over the country. But in 2011, the government issued a moratorium on the project due to problems with financing and restocking of medicines.

On Tuesday, November 29, Duterte also said he might use part of the PAGCOR funds to put up a drug rehabilitation center in Visayas. – Rappler.com