Ramiro Community Hospital will become the first private hospital in Bohol to accept guarantee letters from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as payment for patients’ bills.
The hospital and the DSWD signed an agreement Nov. 11, 2026 allowing it to honor guarantee letters issued under the agency’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program, known as AICS.
Under the arrangement, indigent patients who obtain a guarantee letter can settle their hospital bills with the document.
The DSWD, not the patient, then pays the hospital at a later date.
DSWD officials and hospital management attended the signing.
The guarantee letter is meant to spare poor patients from facing large bills at the point of discharge.
Ramiro Community Hospital is among Bohol’s larger private health care providers.
AICS is the DSWD’s main program for giving immediate help to individuals and families in crisis. It covers medical, burial, transportation, educational and other urgent needs, mainly for people in the informal sector and other poor or vulnerable groups.
A guarantee letter is an official DSWD document assuring payment to an accredited provider for approved services or products given to an eligible beneficiary. It can be used only at the provider named in the patient’s case file.
Applicants typically must submit a clinical abstract or medical certificate, the hospital bill or prescription, a barangay certificate of indigency and a valid ID to a DSWD field or satellite office.
Reports on the program indicate that medical aid above P10,000 pesos is issued as a guarantee letter paid directly to the provider, subject to available funds, while smaller amounts may be given in cash or as a letter.
The program’s medical assistance is reported to reach up to P150,000 pesos per case.
The agency has leaned increasingly on guarantee letters. DSWD Crisis Intervention Program Director Edwin Morata said in June that the department would prioritize them over cash after finding that some beneficiaries spent money intended for medicine and treatment on other needs, including food.
Beneficiaries may still request cash, he said, but would not receive the full value stated in a guarantee letter.
As of May 31, the DSWD had released at least P9.22 billion pesos in medical and funeral assistance through guarantee letters to 499,978 beneficiaries, according to the agency.
In January alone, 5,512 people received guarantee letters totaling about P321 million pesos, mostly for hospital and other medical costs.
The department’s guarantee letter issuance was briefly suspended in early January pending release of 2026 funds, then resumed at its central office and regional offices, including Field Office 7 in Central Visayas, which covers Bohol.
The DSWD has built a network of accredited providers over the years. It said it released P651 million pesos in assistance through guarantee letters in 2022 and has since signed agreements with dozens of hospitals, dialysis centers, diagnostic facilities and pharmacies.
Mercury Drug and Generika Drugstore outlets also accept the letters for medicines and medical devices.
Patients’ access to the letters has long been limited by how many accredited facilities are near them.
Ramiro Community Hospital’s agreement adds a private option in Bohol.