SolGen defends transfer of PhilHealth excess funds to nat’l treasury
Menardo Guevarra — HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Solicitor General told the Supreme Court that instead of borrowing money to fund essential government programs, specifically health and social projects, the legislative opted for available funds that were not being “productively utilized.”
During Tuesday’s oral argument, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra defended the government’s transfer of excess funds from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to the national treasury.
He said as of the end of February 2024, the National Government debt was already at P15.18 trillion, meaning with a 114 million population in 2025, every Filipino, regardless of age, is indebted in the amount of P139,000.00 each.
“It is in this cash-starved context that the Congress trained its sight on money that was there but was not being productively utilized,” Guevarra said.
He added, “Respondent Congress, in its wisdom, identified the fund balance of government corporations as a source of additional funds to finance the Unprogrammed Appropriations.”
Article continues after this advertisementHe said the circulars issued by the Department of Finance (DOF) were constitutional, as these did not violate the people’s right to health.
Article continues after this advertisement“The Secretary of Finance did not usurp the President’s authority to transfer appropriations to augment any item for the simple reason that…the process did not involve ‘savings’ as presently defined under the GAA,” he said.
He assures that “no part of the corpus of PhilHealth’s reserve fund, after having been reviewed and reduced to a reasonable level, reverted to the National Treasury” and that “only Philhealth’s excess fund amounting to P60 billion was remitted to the Treasury and in the process contributed to the implementation of health-related programs amounting to about P46 billion under the Unprogrammed Appropriations.”
“Indeed, our government will not be acting with common sense if it shelved other much-needed projects because one pocket is short on funds, while knowing fully that there is abundance in the other. Using the petitioners’ own words, there can be no greater act of “negative social justice” and “disservice to Filipinos” if that were to be the case,” he added.
The petitions against the transfer of PhilHealth’s excess funds were filed by the groups of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and Bayan Muna Chairperson Neri Colmenares, and 1SAMBAYAN Coalition together with members of the University of the Philippines Law Class 1975, Senior for Seniors Association, Inc., Kidney Foundation of the Philippines, and other private individuals.
Named respondents in the petitions were Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph G. Recto, the House of Representatives represented by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the Senate represented by Senate President Francis Chiz Escudero; Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin; and PhilHealth represented by its President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr.
On October 29, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the transfer of funds. However, out of the P89.9-billion excess funds, P60-billion was already transferred to the national treasury.
READ: SC issues TRO vs transfer of PhilHealth funds to National Treasury
Oral argument will continue on February 25.
