1 TAMBAL PROGRAM OF THE MINDANAO BISHOPS CONFERENCE [Tabang Alang sa mga Magbubuhat sa Altar ug Layko] Iglesia Filipina Independiente INTRODUCTION Health, healing and wellness are at the heart of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus, and countless of people in his time were recipients of these wondrous works of him who wanted every human person to experience joy in life and fullness in living. For our Lord Jesus, these are essentials in meaningful and productive human life and living as God intends it to be in creation. These are the core as well of our human desire and intention in shaping our present and contemporary lives. We value much our health; in fact, we regard it as our real wealth. We always want to be healthy, to be fine and well, and when an ailment comes, we wish to be healed immediately and recover fast under proper hospital treatment and care. But health, healing, and wellness are however difficult to reach and achieve in our present situation. Apart from other factors, there is always an economic and financial reason that hinders everyone from enjoying a fully healthy life and living because of the rising cost of health maintenance medicines and most of hospitalizations due to illness, medical procedures, and infections. This is severely affecting many Filipinos, and, sad enough, also our clergy and lay church workers whose honorarium from the ministry is so meager. The cost of hospital treatment and care has become so untenable nowadays rendering hospitalization to become no longer an option in cases of illness, medical procedure, and even infection. Our ordained and lay workers, working to promote health, healing, and wellness through various ministries of the church, found themselves restrained and limited to accessing proper hospital treatment and care and many of them have instead opted to endure their sickness until it becomes life-threatening. or been left in dire, miserable financial situation as they struggle to generate logistics to underwrite their hospital confinement or to bail them out from huge hospital bills. By this situation, our clergy and lay workers, far from being promoters of health, healing and wellness, have now become reflectors of illness, deterioration, and malady. HMO services are also beyond the reach of the financial capability of our clergy and lay workers and seemingly have likewise become commonly scarce for most of them since the annual premiums have skyrocketed regularly. Church funds appropriated for these services are automatically siphoned out from church coffers and control, as termination of these subscriptions comes to a close every end of the 2 coverage year. The rather limited church resources have been made thinner and dwindling instead of having these church funds revolved and recycled for other uses. AIM AND OBJECTIVES It is with this situation that the Mindanao Bishops Conference conceived and established TAMBAL Program which is generally aimed to become a ready and available source of financial assistance for hospitalization needs among our clergy and lay church workers in Mindanao dioceses. Concretely, it is designed to carry out the following objectives: 1. to organize clergy and lay workers for collective concern and welfare of each other’s health, healing, and wellness 2. to enable clergy and lay workers to enjoy and benefit from financial assistance during cases of hospitalization 3. to prompt church leaders and local churches to enroll their clergy and lay workers and to make as among the priorities of the dioceses the provision of hospitalization benefits for their clergy and lay workers 4. to establish a program that will revolve and recycle church funds for other uses to address other needs of the clergy and lay workers In short, TAMBAL Program is an organized, collective response to the clamor of supplying the basic hospitalization needs of clergy and lay workers, to make the Mindanao dioceses grow into one big family whose members are bound by common interest to help, be conscious of and concerned for the inevitable need of proper hospital treatment and care, and to optimize the use of church funds to underwrite other services through the responsible and efficient control, programming, management, and stewardship of the capital fund accrued from years of payment of the annual premiums. TARGET BENEFICIARIES TAMBAL Program is targeting the following as beneficiaries, in such order of enrollment priorities: [1] all the clergy [bishops, priests, and deacons], [2] council members and sectoral officers, [3] lay church workers and lay ministers [in whatever offices and ministries], [4] clergy spouses and clergy’s children, and [5] church members in and outside Mindanao dioceses. The order may be altered however depending on the capacity and willingness of the target beneficiaries to settle the appropriate and corresponding annual premiums. 3 REQUIREMENTS FOR ENROLLMENT TAMBAL Program acts on the enrollment of the prospective beneficiaries, following the order above, upon completion and submission of the following documents: 1. Valid government and church ID’s 2. Accomplished TP Personal Membership/Data Form 3. Proofs of good standing in membership of SSS/GSIS and Philhealth [ID and photocopy of Membership Forms and Member Data Records] 4. Endorsement from the Diocese as officially included for enrolment to TAMBAL Program with signatures of the Diocesan Bishop, Diocesan Secretary and Diocesan Treasurer PRINCIPAL BENEFITS Since TAMBAL Program seeks to address the hospitalization needs of the prospective beneficiaries, it offers, appropriates and grants the following principal benefits and corresponding annual premiums as categorize in this wise: Category A Category B Category C Category D Maximum of P200,000 Annual Hospitalization Benefits Maximum of P5,000 Annual Laboratory Fees P10,000 Annual Premium All clergy in Mindanao Maximum of P100,000 Annual Hospitalization Benefits Maximum of P2,500 Annual Laboratory Fees P5,000 Annual Premium Council Members Maximum of P50,000 Annual Hospitalization Benefits Maximum of P1,000 Annual Laboratory Fees P2,500 Annual Premium Lay workers/ministers, clergy spouses, clergy’s children Maximum of P25,000 Annual Hospitalization Benefits P1,250 Annual Premium GUIDELINES AND MECHANISM: Interested individuals or parties, as stipulated in the above section, who desire to enroll in and avail of the benefits of TAMBAL Program shall fill out a prescribed contact form provided by the program, and accomplish and submit the requirements enumerated above. Undergo briefing and orientation about TAMBAL Program to be given by 4 the bishop and/or his deputies or team created for such a purpose. The age limit for eligibility to enroll all the lay beneficiaries shall be 65 years of age. The age-ceiling shall be waived for lay members of the Management Board to accord them special privilege. There shall be none however for the clergy enrollees to the program. Enrolment to the program shall be covered by a contract. The term of every contract is one (1) year and renewable every year. The TAMBAL Program financial assistance can be availed anytime during and in cases of hospital admission and confinement; this however should be on top of the Philhealth and other healthcare service benefits. Only those with updated and qualified payments of annual premiums to the program can avail of the benefits. The beneficiaries however are given a one-month grace period to settle payments (meaning no fine or penalty is extracted and benefits are given provided that the obligation of paying the annual premium is satisfied during the grace period). All beneficiaries with initial hospitalization bills are entitled to receive a refund. The remaining amount shall be released by the program upon presentation of the final hospital bill. The coverage of TAMBAL Program assistance shall include medicines bought outside of the hospital within the duration of the client’s hospitalization and shall be vouched for by the issued official receipts. The TAMBAL Program assistance shall include dental and mental health needs and will be charged to the categorical hospitalization benefits. Meanwhile the financial assistance for tooth extraction and “pasta” shall be as follows: Category A - P1,000.00, and Category B - P500.00. The TAMBAL Program will also extend maternity benefits to female beneficiaries. Maternity benefits shall be as follows: Category A: P10,000; Category B: P7,000; and Category C: P5,000. Death aid or mortuary assistance shall also be given to the immediate family of the deceased beneficiary. The death aid benefit or mortuary assistance shall be as follows: Category A: P20,000; Category B: P10,000; Category C and D: P5,000. All beneficiaries will be enrolled in any accident insurance program recommended by the Management Board and approved by the Mindanao Bishops Conference. 5 The office of TAMBAL Program, through the Executive Director, shall be notified immediately of any hospital admission and confinement of the beneficiary so that the program can make the necessary preparations for its immediate response to the impending need. MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION There shall be a Management Board to be created by the Mindanao Bishops Conference to oversee and manage the TAMBAL Program. The Management Board shall compose the following membership: [a] Mindanao East bishops; [b] Lay experts on cooperatives, finance management, medical and legal services nominated from the dioceses; and [c] Mindanao East Regional Sectoral Officers serving as ex-officio members. Members of the Management Board shall elect from among themselves the following officers, namely: [a] Chairperson; [b] Vice-chairperson; [c] Secretary; [d] Treasurer; [e] Auditor. The Management Board shall design measures and propose changes or amendments of governing policies for the enhancement of TAMBAL Program subject however to the prior approval and concurrence of the Mindanao Bishops Conference. The Management Board shall recommend to the Mindanao Bishops Conference official depository banks of the funds of TAMBAL Program and the designated signatories for the TAMBAL Program bank accounts. The Mindanao Bishops Conference shall appoint an Executive Director who shall be responsible, among others, for the day-to-day transactions and operation of TAMBAL Program. S/he shall sit as member of the Management Board and regularly submit written reports to the Management Board and to the Mindanao Bishops Conference during its meetings. The physical office of TAMBAL Program shall be established in Cabadbaran City, inside the BHI compound. Under the oversight of the Executive Director, it shall be staffed by a bookkeeper who shall be responsible for keeping records of accounts (daily cash book, receipts book, and disbursement book) faithful to the Financial Management System (FMS) adopted by the Church. A cashier shall also be employed to take charge of receiving contributions, issuing receipts as well as transmitting TAMBAL Program financial assistance to the beneficiaries through the diocesan account of the receiving end. These staff shall function other duties or responsibilities as directed or assigned by the 6 Executive Director, Conference. Management Board or Mindanao Bishops FINANCIAL POLICIES Ten percent (10%) of the total contributions to the TAMBAL Program shall be allocated for its annual operational expenses. Annual retained earnings of the of TAMBAL Program shall form part of its buffer fund. Payments of annual premiums shall be deposited intact in the designated bank account before the close of banking hours of the day these premiums were receipted. The Management Board shall maintain and determine petty cash under the custody of the cashier and to immediately be replenished as soon as it is depleted. A Quarterly Financial Report shall be prepared and to be provided to all the dioceses through the bishops and to members of the Management Board for purposes of transparency and accountability. On the third year of TAMBAL Program implementation, the following shall be incorporated as additional features of the said program to further provide necessary services to the beneficiaries, such as: Twenty (20%) percent of the retained earnings of TAMBAL Program shall be appropriated by the Management Board to offer loan services at 6% interest rate or placed in highly productive investments to generate more funds for the program. This investment undertaking shall be managed by another body commissioned by the Mindanao Bishops Conference. The Management Board shall consider offering personal loan services to clergy and other church workers in various dioceses payable through honorarium deduction. And if the retained earnings are significant enough, the Management Board shall determine a certain percentage from these retained earnings for, and shall be made available to, institutional loans applied by interested dioceses, parishes, mission, programs, and church institutions like schools and learning centers, at 6% interest rate. After three years of operation and evaluation, the TAMBAL Management Board shall consider the following proposals to set aside funds for the 7 1% Charity Fund from Annual Retained Earnings and the 1% BHI Support Fund from the same Annual Retained Earnings. CLAIM PROCEDURES Those beneficiaries who intend to apply for a benefit claim shall fill up the claimed forms provided for by the Diocese. Copies of the hospital bill, laboratory or dental fees, official receipts, and others, shall be attached to the accomplished claimed form. Copies of the filled-up claimed form and of the hospital bill and other documents shall be transmitted as well to the office of TAMBAL Program. Another set of copies of the form and documents shall be kept in the diocesan office for future referral. The claimant of the TAMBAL Program assistance shall be authorized by the beneficiary. All claim applications for TAMBAL Program financial assistance shall have the approval of the diocesan bishop. Upon approval of the diocesan bishop, the claimed form shall immediately be transmitted by the concerned diocese to the chairperson of the TAMBAL Claim Appraisal Committee for its immediate and appropriate action. The assistance of the approved claim will be sent through fund transfer to the diocesan account of the diocese where claiming beneficiary belongs to. The diocesan treasurer shall issue acknowledgment upon receipt of the fund transmitted by the TAMBAL Program office. A copy of the laboratory examination expenses approved and endorsed by the diocesan bishop shall be furnished to the TAMBAL Program Office to be refunded. The approved claim shall be released to the beneficiary or to her/his authorized representative through the diocesan treasurer. In the case of a lay beneficiary, the financial assistance for the hospitalized beneficiary shall be coursed through with his/her parish priest upon notification and instruction of the diocesan bishop.
