Better days for PhilHealth members

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There are those now asking for the resignation or prosecution of certain public officials in connection with the transfer of excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to the national treasury.

This was after the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional a provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act which directed the Department of Finance to transfer to the treasury excess funds of government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs), including PhilHealth, as well as a DOF Circular implementing the legal directive.

Pursuant to Special Provision 1(d) of the 2024 GAA under Republic Act 11975, the DOF, under then Finance secretary Ralph Recto instructed PhilHealth to remit to the treasury its fund balance of P89.9 billion. PhilHealth approved the transfer, and P60 billion was remitted in three tranches.

President Marcos subsequently announced that the P60 billion will be returned to PhilHealth.

The SC, in its en banc decision as well as through the separate opinions of a number of its Justices, did not find culpability on the part of both the President and Recto, now Executive Secretary.

But the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) recently urged Congress, the Commission on Audit and the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate how the P60 billion was used by the Marcos administration. It said those who authorized and signed the realignment, as stated in the bicameral conference committee report for the 2025 GAA, should be held accountable.

The bicam committee is currently hammering out a consolidated version of the 2026 GAA bill that includes the restoration of the P60 billion to PhilHealth in keeping with the presidential directive to return the money that was made even before the High Tribunal issued its ruling.

Once ratified by both the Senate and the House, the 2026 GAB is then sent to  Malacañang for the President’s approval and signing into law — the 2026 GAA — hopefully before end-2025.

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition also earlier called for the resignation of Recto for issuing the DOF circular that cleared the way for the transfer of PhilHealth’s excess funds to the National Treasury and for the Office of the Ombudsman to form a fact-finding team to investigate those involved in the cash sweep of PhilHealth’s P60 billion in idle funds.

Shouldn’t these groups be going after the members of Congress who came up with this directive to DOF to transfer the excess funds of GOCCs to the treasury instead of those who were merely doing their job? After all, the appropriations bill is the handiwork of the House of Representatives.

In its press statement, the Supreme Court emphasized that the Justices who submitted their separate opinions have noted that no criminal liability can attach to the Finance Secretary, whom they found to have acted in good faith in implementing Special Provision 1 (d) of the 2024 GAA.

These members of the High Court have also emphasized that the DOF had ordered the transfer of PhilHealth’s idle funds only after the fund transfer was cleared by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, the Governance Commission for GOCCs, COA and the PhilHealth board.

Justice Samuel Gaerlan said that Recto’s order was characterized by institutional good faith and due diligence. He added that the fact that the SC declared Special Provision 1d of the 2024 GAA and DOF Circular  003-2024 as void does not negate Recto’s good faith, nor does it automatically create a basis for his liability, unless there is a clear showing of bad faith, malice or gross negligence.

Justice Rodil Zalameda noted that the then-DOF chief’s actions were strictly ministerial and executed based on the statutory commands of the Congress and were characterized by institutional good faith and due diligence, as they relied on formal clearances from agencies like the OGCC, the COA and the GCG.

Meanwhile, Justice Raul Villanueva stressed that to hold Recto liable in any way whatsoever is like punishing him for simply doing his job.

Justice Ricardo Rosario, for his part, pointed out that no liability for technical malversation may attach as the officials carried out the statutory commands in good faith, pursuant to a law then presumed valid, and without any intention to divert funds contrary to legislative will.

But how were the P60 billion transferred PhilHealth funds used in the first place?

They did not end up financing the controversial flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, but were used to fund priority initiatives, like paying the long-overdue health emergency allowance of workers nationwide during the pandemic, augmenting the Department of Health’s medical assistance program for indigent and financially incapable patients, financing the purchase of medical equipment for hospitals run by the DOH or by LGUs, as well as primary care facilities, DOH facilities and additional funds for the DOH’s health facilities enhancement program. Around P13 billion, meanwhile, went to fund counterpart financing for foreign-assisted projects including the FAP counterpart financing, for the Metro Manila Subway Project.

Recto earlier explained that PhilHealth’s ability to deliver services was never impaired by the fund transfer and no member contributions were taken and that in fact, the correction led to the agency’s largest expansion of benefit packages in Universal Health Care history, alongside the rollout of Zero Balance Billing to protect Filipino families from rising medical costs.

Meanwhile, the restored funds of PhilHealth will be used to support President Marcos’ Zero Balance Billing in DOH-run hospitals.

Because of Recto’s decision to limit the sweep to PhilHealth’s idle subsidies from 2021 to 2023, and to exclude member contributions, PhilHealth has managed to implement the most significant expansion of benefit packages in the history of the UHC program.

DTI’s unheralded role

The Philippines has enjoyed sustained inflation below two percent since March 2025 and while the Department of Agriculture deserves credit for bringing rice prices down from P58 per kilo to P43, 44 per kilo, this basic commodity is not the only one that determines the consumer price index which measures inflation.

The Department of Trade and Industry has played a pivotal role in stabilizing if not bringing down the prices of other essentials like canned fish, processed meats, pork and poultry.

Latest Philippine Statistics Authority data showed that headline inflation averaged 1.6 percent during the first 11 months of the year. Economists expect the average inflation rate for 2025 to be at 1.68 percent while the Asian Development Bank projects Philippine inflation to settle at 1.8 percent. The International Monetary Fund sees an average inflation of 1.7 percent this year for the country.

A low and steady inflation rate makes the cost of living more affordable.

DTI Secretary Maria Cristina Roque has been at the forefront by enforcing suggested retail prices and rejecting manufacturers’ pleas for hikes and by instead opening untapped markets for them and giving manufacturers new avenues to sell their products to keep prices steady for consumers.

Roque’s proactive strategy highlights DTI’s edge in balancing consumer protection with industry growth, complementing efforts by the agriculture department and thus achieving a year-to-date inflation average of around 1.9 to two percent which is well within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas target.

These gains have boosted household purchasing power amid easing transport costs.

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