SENATOR Joel Villanueva, principal sponsor of the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, hailed the establishment of additional medical schools across the country, saying this brings the Philippines closer to ensuring that every community has access to a doctor and quality healthcare.
Villanueva said this also strengthens the implementation of Republic Act 11509 or the Doktor Para sa Bayan law, which he authored in 2020 to help address healthcare inequality.
“This is a win for our youth aspiring to become doctors, for local communities, and for every Filipino who deserves quality healthcare,” Villanueva said.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) earlier approved Doctor of Medicine Programs in five state universities across the country beginning Academic Year 2026-2027.
“With these five new approvals, the number of SUC medical schools has grown from 25 to 30, completing our goal of establishing a medical program in every region of the country,” the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education said.
The five state universities passed the CHED’s evaluation and were given the go-ahead to have a medical program are the following:
- Visayas State University (VSU) – Region VIII
- Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) – Region VIII
- University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) – Region VIII
- Benguet State University (BSU) – Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
- Cotabato State University – Cotabato Regional Medical Center School of Medicine (CCSU-CRMC) – Region XII
Villanueva said the new medical programs will boost the Doktor Para sa Bayan (DPSB) law by expanding medical education opportunities in the regions and helping address the longstanding shortage and uneven distribution of physicians nationwide.
For 2026, Villanueva pushed to fund the DPSB law with P1.095 billion under the General Appropriations Act.
This is the single highest budget received by the program since it was enacted into law in 2021.
“This is not merely an investment in education — it is an investment in lives,” Villanueva said.
“Every doctor we train means countless patients who will receive timely and quality medical care,” Villanueva said. (UnliNews Online)
