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The doctor as a policymaker: Dr. Minguita Padilla explains Senate run

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Trishia Billones, ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1816961" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>MANILA - She was told she probably would not win but ophthalmologist Minguita Padilla decided to give the Senate a shot to show that doctors must be in policymaking positions, especially during the pandemic. </p><p>&quot;By running for the Senate, I’ll just be continuing what I have been doing for the last 30 years, except hopefully, I’ll have a bigger platform, a bigger venue and I’ll be able to do something officially. Hindi na ako yung advocate na nagmamakaawa sa senador, sa congressman na pakinggan kami,&quot; Padilla told ANC&#x27;s Headstart on Tuesday. </p><p>(I&#x27;ll no longer be the advocate who pleads to doctors, to congressmen to listen.)</p><p>&quot;I’ll be there and I can make the decisions the way a doctor can, a doctor who’s there in the trenches along with other healthcare workers,&quot; she added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/06/21/doctors-seek-senate-posts-to-lead-pandemic-response">&#x27;Put a doctor in the Senate&#x27;: More docs seek elective posts to lead pandemic response</a></li></ul><p>Padilla, who led the medical team of Project ARK, which aimed to widen testing coverage through the use of antibody rapid test kits, said a &quot;call&quot; had been building inside her &quot;for a long time&quot; before she finally tried for the lawmaking chamber.</p><p>She said she has been helping senators, district representatives, and the Department of Health for about three decades now, as a health advocate.</p><p>&quot;But then, the COVID pandemic sort of showed me that we need to do more as doctors and our presence in government, especially in policymaking positions, is important,&quot; she said.</p><p>Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whom she described as &quot;an old friend,&quot; had asked her to run 3 times. She admitted turning the offer down the first 2 times and only agreeing on the presidential aspirant&#x27;s third try because it was then that her own decision became &quot;hinog&quot; or ripe.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/15/21/who-are-the-lacson-sotto-tandems-senatorial-bets">Who are the senatorial bets running under the Lacson-Sotto tandem? </a></li></ul><p>While she was &quot;not naïve&quot; about her chances of winning in a national election, Padilla said she knew there is public clamor for change.</p><p>&quot;I sense a very palpable need, desire in the public for change. I go everywhere. From salesgirls, tricycle drivers, the youth: ‘We want new faces,’ they tell me…There’s like a desire, a hunger especially in the first time voters. They’re reaching out to me, they want to know me,&quot; she said.</p><p>Padilla is also banking on her &quot;natural base,&quot; her fellow healthcare workers. </p><p>&quot;It was a sudden decision and that was the same question, the pragmatic people who have been in politics for a long time: Hindi ka mananalo, paano ka mananalo? Imposible siguro. But you know, when I put up the Eye Bank long, long ago, it was the same thing: it’s impossible. People said it’s impossible. But it didn’t stop me,&quot; she said.</p><p>If elected senator, Padilla said she would get to the bottom of problems with state insurer PhilHealth.</p><p>&quot;I know PhilHealth ins and outs. I’ve been inside, I’ve been out. They have never addressed the real problems of PhilHealth and PhilHealth is very important so universal healthcare can happen,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;What do we have to fix? ID system, the legal system. I know how it works so I know how to fix it and hindi sila makakalusot sa akin (they won&#x27;t get past me),&quot; she added.</p><p>She also wants to help prepare the Philippines for the next pandemic.</p><p>&quot;We have to be ready for the next pandemic and I think having a doctor in the Senate will help ensure that we can prepare the country for that,&quot; she said.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1816982" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

She was told she probably would not win but ophthalmologist Minguita Padilla decided to give the Senate a shot to show that doctors must be in policymaking positions, especially during the pandemic. 

The doctor as a policymaker: Dr. Minguita Padilla explains Senate run

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The doctor as a policymaker: Dr. Minguita Padilla explains Senate run

Trishia Billones,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 02, 2021 05:39 PM PHT

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Updated Nov 02, 2021 06:09 PM PHT

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Minguita Padilla

Halalan 2022

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2022 elections

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