Carl Balita, 52, is a registered nurse and midwife, educator, broadcaster and entrepreneur who is most popularly known for his education enterprise Carl E. Balita Review Center.
In addition to his myriad of business and artistic interests, Balita is an advocate for health professionals, the education sector and business.
This is Balita’s first candidacy, joining Aksyon Demokratiko, inspired by party stalwarts Raul Roco, the late senator, and Jimmy Galvez-Tan who share his education and health professional backgrounds. He urges transfusion of “the science of evidence and data-driven governance into the old art of politics” and claims that his multi-field background and experience will allow him to craft laws to lead to a “better normal” post-pandemic Philippines. He is likewise banking on his extensive network across the health, education and business sectors to propel him to the Senate, positioning himself as the sole nurse-midwife-teacher-MSME representative in the upper chamber.
Balita’s platform revolves around three Ks: Kalusgan, Kabuhayan, and Karunungan, vowing to address the health, education, and economic crises that are currently devastating the country. He supports the full implementation of the Universal Health Care Act and the availability of the local resources due to the Mandanas-Garcia ruling to properly address the issue of scarcity of medical and healthcare professionals. He is also promoting the full engagement and participation of the private sector, both in the education and health sectors, believing that the private sector has been“left behind” and can be revitalized through an empowering rather than a purely regulatory approach by the government.
The candidate's top priorities if elected to office, tracked against previous promises and accomplishments, if any
- Fix the execution and budget of the Universal Healthcare Law
- Passing the “Omnibus Positive Practice Environment”, including the security of tenure rights, to encourage healthcare workers to remain in the country
- Strategic direction and investments in education in the form of scholarships and subsidies for all educational institutions offering health science courses
- Create and fill-up plantilla positions for various nursing positions based on nurse-patient ratio that is scientifically based on acuity of care
- Assess need to appoint a National Chief Nurse in the Department of Health
- PhilHealth must be an institution that enables and empowers, rather than regulates and penalizes, private healthcare institutions
- Explore need for government subsidy the private hospitals, especially in human resource development, to cushion the increasing cost of health care
- Establish a Super Health Center and Specialty Hospital to provide quality medical services, including mental health services
- Hire a nurse at every school and barangay and a midwife at every barangay to provide primary health care
Warned about scarcity of healthcare personnels, especially nurses, who are enticed to work overseas for better pay, benefits and working conditions
- Increase lending to MSMEs
- Increase support for rural development
- Improve transactions with government through digitization
- Establish a Department of Overseas Filipinos to address their needs until return to the country
- Establish a Crisis Management Commission to prepare for coming calamities
Founded DREAM Inc, and lead convenor of Entrepinoy Movement
- Address the low passing rate of professional board exams by digitizing the said exam in order to have more frequent test takers within a year
- Reinstatement of the Congressional Commission to Review and Assess Philippine education, to evaluate the K to 12 and create a more comprehensive approach to post-pandemic education
- Provide for free: a. gadgets to all students and WIFI in public places b. tax-free for micro-enterprises and low-middle income earners (less than P100k) c. Free training with allowance to unemployed d. Free CPD sources of professionals e. Remove or decrease interest rates for capital loans to MSMEs and those who want to study f. Free and computerized board licensure exams
- Increase pay of public and private sector workers, including teachers and health-care workers
- Increase support for private schools and scholarships for private students
- Increase budget for education, agriculture, science and technology
- Reform of DOH and PhilHealth for productiveness and to avoid anomalies and corruption
- Free food at kinder to grade 3 level sourced from local agricultural producers to end worsening malnutrition problem
- Teach new methods for GMRC classes
Founded the Dr. Carl Balita Review Center that has consistently produced bar topnotchers within the country
