The PhilHealth Local Health Insurance Office (LHIO) in Caloocan. Photo from PhilHealth鈥檚 website
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation鈥檚 (PhilHealth)聽controversial excess reserve funds transferred to the National Treasury were used exclusively for health-related projects, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.
During the Supreme Court鈥檚 (SC) oral arguments on the transfer of PhilHealth funds, Recto maintained that the P60-billion PhilHealth reserve funds transferred to the National Treasury were redirected to health-related projects, the largest of which was the P27.45 billion in payouts for the Health Emergency Allowances of COVID-19 frontliners.
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Other critical programs funded were the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients at P10 billion, the procurement of medical equipment for the Department of Health鈥檚 (DOH) hospitals, local hospitals and primary care facilities at P4.10 billion, three DOH health facilities at P3.37 billion, and the Health Facilities Enhancement Program at P1.69 billion.
The rest, or about P13 billion, were used to fund government counterpart financing for foreign-assisted infrastructure and 鈥渟ocial determinants for health鈥� projects, Recto said.
He also underscored that the reserve funds transferred from PhilHealth were unused funds, and were not taken from member contributions.
鈥淚t bears stressing that not a single centavo meant for the members鈥� coverage was touched. Not a centavo of benefits was compromised,鈥� Recto said.
鈥淧hilHealth鈥檚 daily operations and benefit packages remain intact. They will not be disrupted but will even be improved,鈥� he added.
SARO shows part of funds used for gov鈥檛 salary hike
However, the Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) before the Supreme Court showed that parts of the PhilHealth鈥檚 reserve funds were used for other projects not related to health.
The SAROs reflected the combined disbursements from the reserve funds of PhilHealth and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation transferred to the National Treasury.
During the oral arguments, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen presented the document, pointing out that P37.1 billion were used to fund the government鈥檚 payment for personnel benefits, including the salary adjustment for filled positions.
Other notable expenditures included P39.3 billion used for counterpart of foreign-assisted projects, P27.4 billion for public health emergency benefits and allowances for health care and non-health care workers, and P22.9 billion for strengthening assistance for government infrastructure and social programs.
Asked if these were health-related expenditures, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra responded in the negative.
Guevarra clarified that the PhilHealth funds used were first transferred to the National Treasury, 鈥渘ot directly to a specific purpose.鈥�
鈥淵our honor, the money taken from PhilHealth went to the treasury, comingled there in the treasury for proper application to the various uses enumerated in the unprogrammed appropriations,鈥� he explained.
He said it could still be proven that the funds taken from PhilHealth were used exclusively for health-related purposes.
鈥淏ecause we have a list of the SAROs, listed or rather issued by the DBM and showing for which particular purpose under the unprogrammed appropriations that particular SARO was applied,鈥� Guevarra said.
鈥淲e have seen this and we have found that almost the entire amount of P60 billion which came from the fund balance of PhilHealth was applied to health-related projects,鈥� he added.