LEYTE Rep. Martin Romualdez on Sunday batted for the automatic enrollment of at least 1.5-million persons with disabilities in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s national health insurance program .
“Our malasakit [compassion] commitment to the PWD sector will continue,” he said, adding that if elected senator, he would push for legislative proposals making it mandatory for the government to enrol PWDs to the PhilHealth program.
Romualdez is the principal author of the PWD law exempting the PWDs from the payment of 12-percent value-added tax on certain goods and services.
Last March 23, President Benigno Aquino III signed Romualdez’s measure into Republic Act 10754.
Should he win a Senate seat, Romualdez said he is committed to continue helping the PWD sector.
Meanwhile, Romualdez proposed the possible adoption of biometrics in the banking system to ensure that depositors’ hard-earned savings would not be stolen by fraudsters.
He reacted to the recent biggest government-related data breach in history, surpassing the 2015 hacking of the US Office of Personnel Management which revealed fingerprints and social security numbers of 20-million Americans.
Hackers leaked the entire database of the Commission on Elections revealing sensitive personal information of the voters.
Romualdez, a former chairman of the board of Equitable PCI Bank or the country’s third largest bank that merged with Banco de Oro Universal Bank in 2006 and known today as Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., saw the need to “toughen and strengthen” the banking system’s customer identity validation system from fraud.
“Pity our depositors. Save them from fraud. Fake identification cards would even proliferate,” he said.
During his stint as bank executive, Romualdez also served as director for a host of stellar companies, among them Philippine Commercial International Bank, Equitable Card Network, EBC Investments Inc., Equitable Savings Bank, PCI Leasing Corp. and PCI Capital Corp.
“The reforms and safeguards to be implemented in the banking system should be made immediately because potential fraudsters are now feasting on a buffet of sensitive and vital information of millions of Filipinos. The banks’ requests for additional proof in establishing the real identity of their clients must be established,” he pointed out.
He urged depositors “to do away with passwords or PIN codes derived from their personal data.”