SC asked to rule transfer of P89.9b PhilHealth funds unconstitutional

 

Reyes, Magno,Carpio, Carpio-Morales and Mendoza hold up copies of the SC petition
(PhilStar photo)

Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales have led the latest legal challenge to the transfer of  “excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to the national treasury.

The two, along with former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno, former Commission on Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza and priest Robert Reyes filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Oct. 16, questioning the constitutionality of transferring the P89.9 billion in Philhealth funds.

The move came on the day the third tranche of PhilHealth’s “excess funds” amounting to P30 billion was transferred to the government treasury.

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In all, P89.8 billion of PhilHealth funds from 2021 to 2023 are to be transferred to the national treasury, in line with a special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) mandating all government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to remit their unspent subsidies for the period.

From this cash sweep of the GOCCs will come funding for previously designated priority projects such as infrastructure and salary increases for government workers.

A day earlier, a number of former senior government officials from different administration issued a joint statement to try and stop Finance Secretary Ralph Recto to stop the further transfer of funds from the national health insurance agency.

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The statement said it was “beyond reason” to pit spending on economic growth through infrastructure with that for social programs and public health.

“Every peso diverted from PhilHealth is desperately needed by Filipinos without access to health care,” they said.

They said that the real intention of the fund transfers was to fund pork barrel allocations inserted into the 2024 national budget.

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Under the 2024 GAA,  the government’s unprogrammed funds ballooned to P731.45 billion, up by a massive 160 percent from the P281.91 billion requested by the executive branch from Congress.

But despite the wide-ranging opposition, Recto said he could only stop the transfer if there was a direct order from the lawmakers or the Supreme Court, arguing that the DOF was only following what Congress had allowed under the 2024 national budget.

Those who questioned the transfer said PhilHealth is mandated to meet the objectives of universal health care of expanding the scope and coverage of health benefits to members, so its allocated funds should be used solely for this reason.

They said the P89.9 billion deemed to have been “unspent funds” had come from the premiums or contributions of members, and are meant to benefit indirect contributors like senior citizens, persons with disabilities, indigents, 4Ps beneficiaries, and those without the capacity to pay..

“Instead of addressing inefficiencies and waste within the budget, the government is accommodating untimely and wasteful public projects, which could only be beneficial to a select few precisely by raiding PhilHealth’s funds,” said the statement.

“By all measures, this policy seriously jeopardizes the mandate to promote universal health care,” the statement said.

Among the signatories were former Secretaries Cielito Habito and Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority, Enrique Ona of the Department of Health, Florencio Abad of the Department of Budget and Management, and ex-PhilHealth president and CEO Alexander Padilla.

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