All patients should be allowed to designate who can make medical decisions on their behalf if/when they are unable to do so.
This is the intent of a bill, House Bill 7068 or the “Right to Care Act”, which was filed in the House of Representatives by Citizen Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima to institutionalize a system that grants power to the non-legal partners of Filipinos.
“In the explanatory section of the bill, De Lima stated that the current state of Philippine law “effectively alienates many adult Filipinos, such as solo parents, people in non-marital relationships, people from non-traditional households, and people in same-sex relationships, who often face discrimination and unfair treatment in health care settings and are denied access to information and decision-making processes involving the health care of their loved ones, despite shared lives and mutual caregiving responsibilities.”
As stated, this is particularly beneficial to LGBTQIA+ people in relationships. There is no marriage equality in the country, so – legally speaking – LGBTQIA+ relationships are not legally binding, so that partners are not allowed to decide on behalf of their partners including when dealing with medical emergencies.
If passed into law, this bill will mandate the government to recognize a “health care agent” chosen by a patient — by submitting a Health Care Proxy — as a legally authorized representative.
Information about the Health Care Proxy will be placed on the patient’s PhilHealth ID and entered in the Right to Care Registry under the Department of Health (DOH).
There is already similar – albeit local – policies, such as the Quezon City Right to Care ordinance, and De Lima wanted to replicate this nationwide.
This is also not the first time such a bill was filed. In 2025, as an example, the Right to Care Bill was refiled in Congress to create a “more inclusive and compassionate healthcare in the country” by allowing patients to designate their partners as their “healthcare agent”, regardless of their legal or marital status, to make critical health decisions on their behalf.
