Policy Evaluation On The Implementation of RA 11469 and Its Lack of Provision On Mass Testing
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POS196 C32-2 Policy, Design, Cybernetics, and Evaluation
Republic of the Philippines
Mindanao State University
Fatima, General Santos City
College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Department of Political Science
AY 2020-2021
Policy Evaluation On The Implementation of RA 11469
and Its Lack of Provision On Mass Testing
Submitted to:
Dr. Anderson V. Villa
Submitted by:
Deocampo, Churchill II
Malic, Sittie Sairah
Date submitted:
July 4, 2021
Policy Evaluation On The Implementation of RA 11469 and Its Lack of Provision On Mass Testing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction/rationale...........................................................................................................3
Statement of the Problem.....................................................................................................4
Objectives of the Paper........................................................................................................ 4
Review on Related Literature.............................................................................................. 5
Research Method................................................................................................................. 9
Policy Evaluation............................................................................................................... 11
Policy Recommendation.................................................................................................... 14
References..........................................................................................................................15
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Introduction/rationale
The primary purpose of this policy paper is to address the inconsistencies of
Republic Act no. 11469, also known as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act of 2020,
particularly the implementation of mass testing. The critical inquiry question of this
policy research paper is how do the Philippines implement mass testing in flattening the
curve of Covid-19 cases and keep infected individuals from infecting healthy ones?
After reading the said law and news articles about the implementation of mass testing
in the Philippines, the researchers decided to focus on three distinct areas: the first
sub-question will look at how the Republic Act no. 11469 addresses the need for mass
testing and if the law adheres to its objectives. Second sub-question is since the law gives
the president fiscal powers to allocate funds intended for the pandemic, what is the
President's response in implementing mass testing? And lastly, how will mass testing be
implemented?
By reading news articles on the need to implement mass testing, politicians said
myriad of reasons why it is impossible for mass testing to be implemented on different
grounds. Even the supreme court junked the petition for mass testing stated that it is
unnecessary (CNN Philippines, 2020). Even senator Koko Pimentel noted no provision in
the Bayanihan To Heal As One-Act on mass testing (DONA MAGSINO, GMA News,
2020).
The main objective of RA 11469, otherwise known as the Bayanihan To Heal as One
Act, is the amelioration of Individuals heavily affected by the pandemic and mitigation of
the spread of Covid-19 in the country. After reading the said Act, the researchers decided
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to analyze the policy implementation of RA 11469 and why it is important to include or
emphasize and importance of mass testing in the provisions of the said law.
Statement of the problem
This study aims to evaluate the Republic Act no. 11469, otherwise known as the
Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, for its lack of provisions in mass testing.
Objectives of the Paper
This paper aimed to determine the following:
1. The effectiveness of RA 11649 towards combating Covid-19 this paper focuses solely
on the efficacy of the said law in mitigating covid-19 infection, particularly in quelling
the spread of covid-19 cases through medical methods, which is mass testing.
2. Identify the section/s of the said Act that can support the implementation of mass
testing.
3. To come up with a robust alternative policy design that addresses the importance of
mass testing.
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Review on Related Literature
Bayanihan to Heal as One
The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act is also identified as Republic Act 11469 that
declares a national health emergency due to the Coronavirus outbreak. This is where
Congress authorized the President to perform necessary special powers with limits such
as time and other certain restrictions. (Tigno, 2020 p.3)
Under Section 4 of the Act, it grants thirty (30) special powers of the President which
are to adopt and implement these measures to prevent further spread of the coronavirus,
following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines; Accelerate and simplify
testing kit accreditation, as well as PUI and PUM testing by public and private
institutions, as well as patient isolation and treatment; Ensure that all local government
units (LGUs) obey the regulations and directives of the national government while
implementing community quarantine standards in their respective areas. The LGUs can
still exercise their autonomy in situations that the national government does not define.
The authority will provide emergency cash assistance to 18 million low-income
households for two months, ranging from P5,000 to P8,000 per month, based on the
region's minimum salary; Give health workers a special risk allowance on top of their
regular hazard pay; Direct PhilHealth to bear all medical expenditures incurred by
workers exposed to the coronavirus for the length of the emergency. Mandate that public
and private health professionals who catch the virus be compensated with P100,000 and
that diseased families of health workers resulting from the virus be compensated with P1
million. Take over private medical facilities; To conserve money, discontinue
appropriated programs or operations of executive branch agencies, including
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government-owned and controlled companies. The savings will subsequently be used to
fund support operations and reaction actions to combat COVID-19. Impose safeguards
against commodity hoarding and profiteering, such as food, gasoline, medication, and
medical supplies; Ensure that the contribution, acceptance, and distribution of health
items do not take too long; Compellingly, certain items such as protective laboratory and
medical equipment, medical supplies, instruments, testing kits, buildings and venues, and
others. As a significant humanitarian organization, collaborate with the Philippine Red
Cross. Employ temporary Human Resources for Health (HRH) to complement or replace
current workers in hospitals and other institutions. Reduce lending interest rates and
reserve requirements for lending institutions to ensure credit availability to the
productive sectors of the economy. Reduce grant subsidies for manufacturing or
importing critical equipment or supplies, such as medical equipment and supplies.
Ensure the availability of essential items by making efforts to avoid supply chain
disruption; Demand that firms prioritize and accept contracts for services and materials
required to promote the legislation. Regulate and regulate the functioning of private and
public land, sea, and air transportation; Regulate traffic on all roads, streets, bridges, et
al.; Continue to permit alternate working arrangements for executive branch personnel
and workers, as well as other autonomous departments of government and the private
sector as needed; Regulate the distribution and use of energy, fuel, and water, and ensure
sufficient supply of these; Use unutilized money to combat the coronavirus.
During the State of Emergency, all unutilized money will be deemed abandoned.
Authorize the allocation of funds to meet the COVID-19 situation, including unutilized or
unreleased subsidiaries held by GOCCs. While under community quarantine, move the
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deadlines and timelines for submitting and filing paperwork, taxes, fees, and other items.
Direct banks and other financial institutions, including GSIS, SSS, and the Pag-IBIG
Fund, institute a 30-day grace period for loan and credit card payments. Allow a 30-day
grace period on residential rentals throughout the ECQ period without incurring interest,
fines, or other fees; Implement an enlarged Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program to cover
people working in the informal economy (self-employment, construction, etc.) and those
who are not already participants of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program. Lift the
30-percentage-point limit on the amount authorized for the fast reaction fund, and Take
additional reasonable and necessary steps to carry out the legislation following the
constitution. (Sawadjaan, 2020)
Mass Testing
Madarang (2020) described how the World Health Organization and the
Department of Health used the term "mass testing" to express the need to find Covid-19
individuals to flatten the curve or lower the number of cases to a sustainable rate. It is
done with how it aims to find people with Covid-19 who are possibly infected with the
Covid-19 virus, either asymptomatic or presymptomatic, for them to be quarantined and
also perform rapid findings and testing close contacts for the avoidance of more people to
be infected with the virus. (Raffle, 2020; Buitrago-Garcia et al., 2020; Mayers & Baker,
2020)
According to Pancevski (2020), Western countries are most likely to have mass
testing towards combating the virus, such as the United Kingdom has acquired 2.5
million kits that have been purchased for a mass-testing campaign to test 25,000 people
per day by the end of April. Officials in Sweden and Austria have stated that they are
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increasing capacity to up to 15,000 tests per day. To scale up tests, Swedish and German
healthcare authorities are considering using veterinary laboratories. Meanwhile, South
Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are the only Asian countries that have pursued mass testing.
It is reported from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) that countries Iceland, Luxembourg and Estonia are the countries that have the
most number of population being mass tested (Broom, 2020).
Having the initiative of flattening the curve, Filipino citizens wished to do the
same as mass testing has shown their effectiveness on flattening the curve, which leads to
the petition with a writ of mandamus requesting that the government conduct testing on
all suspected cases, contacts of probable and confirmed cases, frontline healthcare
workers, and high-risk communities. However, the Supreme Court rejected the said
petition as there is no authority to issue such a writ no matter how extreme the emergency
is. (CNN Philippines Staff, 2020)
Flattening the Curve
The term flattening the curve is applied to the estimated number of people who will
contract the coronavirus over time. (AdventHealth, 2020) Therefore, the faster the
infection curve rises, the more quickly the local health care system becomes
overburdened and unable to treat people leading to run out of the basic supplies that are
essential towards their response to the outbreak. On the other hand, a flatter curve
predicts that the same number of individuals will become sick eventually, but over a
longer period, because a lower infection rate correlates to a less pressured healthcare
system. (Specktor,2020)
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Countries that have flattened the curve include Canada with their early response of
conducting tests and contact tracing and a unique health system, followed by Georgia.
They also took early preventive measures and conducted preventive tests. Iceland was
known for having to test more people per capita. In Asian countries, Taiwan had their
immediate action on combating the coronavirus as it is 100 miles near the prime spot of
the virus, which is Wuhan and with South Korea with their mass testing and applies
isolation and a widespread contact racing. (Wilson, 2020)
Research method
The researchers use the Eightfold Path method by Eugene Bardach in evaluating the
Republic Act No. 11469. It is a step-by-step process of evaluating a policy. Defining the
problem, assembling evidence, constructing alternatives, criteria selection, project and
outcome, confront the trade-offs, decide, and tell the story. The researchers employed
FGD or Focus Group Discussion in decimating tasks and gathering data.
Policy Evaluation On The Implementation of RA 11469 and Its Lack of Provision On Mass Testing
POS196 C32-2 Policy, Design, Cybernetics, and Evaluation
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RA 11469 AND ITS LACK OF
PROVISION ON MASS TESTING
The Implementation of RA
11469 and Its Lack of
Provision On Mass Testing
Research Instrument
Focus Group
Discussion
Eightfold Path
COME UP WITH AN ALTERNATIVE POLICY
Figure 1. Research design
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Policy evaluation
Using the Eightfold Path method, the researchers began their assessment on RA
11469, otherwise known as the Bayanihan to Heal As One-Act. The problem that the
researchers would like to address is the ever-increasing cases of covid-19 in the
Philippines. As of July three, 2021, there are 1,418,337 confirmed cases of covid-19, and
the recorded deaths are a whopping 24,797 (World Health Organization, n.d.). Due to this,
the government needs to identify infected persons infected of covid-19 to put them under
quarantine and spare the health ones, thus called mass testing. Under the Republic Act No.
11469 section 3 (a) that there is a need to mitigate, if not contain, the transmission of
covid-19. Regardless of this provision stipulated under the law, the government
implemented no policy about mess testing, which is the best method in limiting the
spread of the virus. Thus there is a need to clarify what are the ways in mitigating the
transmission of covid-19.
After the issue has been identified, the next course of action is to assemble the pieces
of evidence needed for policy evaluation. Before presenting evidence and data gathering,
it is advised to ponder the outcome of the policy alternative that was implemented. Since
there is an urgent need for mass testing due to increasing cases of covid-19, and since the
main goal of the government is to flatten the curve of covid-19 instances, the prospect of
implementing mass testing is not far-fetched or beyond ordinary. What will be the
outcome of the RA 11469 if mass testing will be given much importance? There will be
no damaging effect on the law, where, in fact, it complements and strengthens the law for
it does not violate or go against its provisions. Segregating the infected from healthy ones
is the sine qua non of mitigating the spread of covid-19 infection. Due to the lack of
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conditions about mass testing in RA 11469 creates confusion that might overlook its
importance. One example is the supreme court's decision to junking the petition for mass
testing, stating that the petitioners lack proof for such an Act (CNN Philippines, 2020).
Advocates for mass testing said that mass testing is a must in battling the pandemic. They
cited how South Korea utilizes online tracking and tents for mass testing and drive-thru
mass testing in curving the curve of their covid-19 cases (Dace & Dace, 2020). Mass
testing advocates such as Iloilo Representative Janette Garin stated that mass testing is a
must, both identifying symptomatic and asymptomatic cases (CNN Philippines, 2020a).
And lastly, government officials have also seen the lack of provisions of RA 11469,
otherwise known as the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act's lack of provisions in mass
testing, thus creates more ambiguity as the government stated that mass testing is solely
in the hands of the private sector, admitting that the government is incapable of
implementing mass testing (Esguerra, 2020). R.A 11469, however, stated in section 4 (k)
(1) that procurement of testing kits and such other relevant supplies or equipment may be
determined by the DOH and other relevant government agencies.
Following the collection of evidence required for policy evaluation, the researchers
immediately developed policy alternatives that will play a critical part in the final policy
decision. The first list is to apply existing proposals for mass testing by medical groups or
government agencies. The number one problem of the RA 11469 is its lack of provisions
in mass testing, which is vital for flattening. Thus layering is the best policy alternative
since the law lacks provisions needed for mass testing. The second alternative is to come
up with a law that is intended only for mass testing. Since there is an emerging need to
regulate the increasing cases of covid-19 as far as the RA 11469 and mass testing is
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concerned, these two address the need to mitigate the spread of covid-19. Hence both
policy alternatives must be merged into one.
The researchers used the efficiency analysis as their evaluative criteria and legality
criteria to select the criteria phase. The efficiency analysis assesses the morals of whether
the policy alternative is worth it in the political realm, and the legality criteria imply the
cohesion of the policy alternatives on the statutes, existing law, and the constitution
(Bardach, 2012). before the researchers begin the evaluative criteria, they have presented
questions: (1) Is the proposed policy alternative morally right? And (2) Does the policy
alternative improve the welfare of the people? The alternative policy is morally right for
it addresses well being of the people and the collective good of the community. And the
policy alternative improves the welfare of the people since it mitigates the spread of
covid-19 that threatens people's lives.
On projecting the outcomes, it assesses the robustness and effectiveness of the policy
alternative base on its outcomes. Since the covid-19 pandemic is both a health and
economic crisis, the policy alternatives must not go against on economy and favour
health. There should be a balance. The researchers foresaw this overlapping crisis that
would be detrimental to the outcome of the policy alternative. In this case, the RA 11469
had already given the fiscal amelioration for covid-19, most specifically on section 4 (k)
(1). Also, under the said law, the President has been vested a fiscal power to control
funds for covid-19 related programs. On health, the policy alternative, particularly the
implementation of mass testing, will help immensely lessen the number of infected
people. The policy alternative will also implement mandatory mass testing on areas or
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cities with astronomical cases of covid-19 to identify those infected and put them under
quarantine.
Policy Recommendation
The Philippines is one of the countries in Southeast Asia with astronomical cases of
covid-19, and there is indeed a need for mass testing. Countries like South Korea had
managed to control the spread of covid-19 due to their robust mass testing methods. The
Philippines must also do the same to mitigate the spread of covid-19. The RA 11469 in
itself is a good policy for addressing both the economic and health crisis brought by the
pandemic. However, the lack of provisions on mass testing makes the law less effective,
for one of its objectives is to mitigate if not quell the spread of covid-19. The following
are recommendations focus on giving mass testing much importance as it is seen to be
one of the effective ways of repelling covid-19 infection:

First and foremost, amend the RA 11469 and include provisions for mass testing
and the fiscal allocations, sanctions, etc.

Implement mass testing policies and define the government institutions or
agencies responsible for carrying out the procedure according to the RA 11469.

The government must prioritize the implementation of mass testing regardless of
how dire or how manageable the country's situation is in dealing with the
pandemic.
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