Rep. Vanessa Aumentado of Bohol’s second district, who is a nurse by profession, has vowed to focus on rendering more health services to constituents days after she was sworn into office for her first term as a legislator.
Aumentado, the first woman to win the second district’s congressional seat, said she has prepared since last month multiple health-related bills which she intends to pass in the 19th Congress.
“Last month palang naghan-ay na ta,” said Aumentado in a press briefing on Sunday. “Since I am a nurse, nag-una gyud dinha ang kabahin sa health.”
According to Aumentado, she will file a bill increasing the bed capacity of the Francisco Dagohoy District Hospital in Inabanga town from 10 to 100.
She also plans to push for the upgrade in government doctors’ salaries from Grade 21 to Grade 23.
The move will raise state doctors’ salaries from P59,353 to P75,359.
“Usa sa mga dakong rason na daghan kaayong mga doctors na mo abroad sayang pud kay kasagaran na hospitals nato problema is we lack doctors. So ato pud silang e-compensate og maayo na sakto para nila,” said Aumentado.
The neophyte lawmaker also bared her plan to establish another Lung Center of the Philippines in the Visayas.
She particularly wanted the facility to be built in Bohol, but admitted that establishing it in the province would be a tall order .
“It may be too ambitious, but why not? It’s ambitious kay siguro ang Cebu ganahan pud og sila pero basin diay pud ihataga ang Lung Center,” said Aumentado.
According to Aumentado, she will be filing more bills including ones previously filed by her husband and predecessor, Gov. Aris Aumentado.
She said one of her reasons for seeking the congressional seat was for continuity in the programs implemented by her husband who held the post for over 12 years.
Aris had been the congressman of the second district from 2012, when he replaced his father Erico who passed away, until the end of his third term in 2022. (A. Doydora)