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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
December 7, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte hailed the ruling of the Supreme Court to return the P60 billion impounded by the government from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
In an interview in The Hague, Duterte said the SC ruling was among the issues she discussed with her father, detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, when she visited him anew at his detention cell at Scheveningen Prison.
“The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of legal cases in our country and if they say that it is unconstitutional, then it is, and then it should be returned,” Duterte said.
By a unanimous vote, the high tribunal also made permanent the temporary restraining order (TRO) it earlier issued against the transfer of the remaining P29.9 billion in supposedly unused PhilHealth funds to the national treasury.
“Rightly so, because the money of PhilHealth should be returned and should be reinvested in health programs in the country,” Duterte said.
The 136-page SC decision was promulgated on Dec. 3, but was only released to the media on Friday.
Go: Justice served
Reacting to the SC ruling, Sen. Bong Go said it is not only “a big win, but justice for the Filipino people, especially the poor patients who were deprived of sufficient medical services.”
“The funds of PhilHealth are for health – they must be used solely to improve the health and wellness of our people, not for projects unrelated to their care,” he noted.
Go also renewed his call to account for how the P60 billion was spent: “PhilHealth must ensure that every peso goes to better benefits, faster processing of claims and wider coverage for our countrymen.”
Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David likewise demanded accountability, saying acknowledgement alone is not enough.
“Thanks, but no thanks. We want the money returned, not by the people who were robbed, but by the people who robbed them,” David said in a Facebook post.
“Order PhilHealth and PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation) to be reimbursed directly from the assets frozen, garnished or seized of those who masterminded or benefited from this scandal,” he added.
For his part, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez welcomed the ruling, which affirmed his earlier position that the transfer of the PhilHealth funds to the national treasury was unconstitutional.
COA: Settle reimbursement claims
The Commission on Audit has reminded the Department of Health (DOH) to address issues preventing the collection from PhilHealth of the denied and returned reimbursement claims of government hospitals which stood at P1.085 billion as of end of 2024.
In its 2024 annual audit report on the DOH, the COA said 13 public hospitals under the DOH are encountering “challenges” in collecting reimbursements from PhilHealth, composed of P786.655 million in denied claims and P298.767 million in claims tagged as “RTH” or returned to hospitals.
The COA warned that the persistent deficiencies in collecting the reimbursement claims may “adversely affect the delivery of vital health care services.”
Meanwhile, Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday defended Congress’ move to augment PhilHealth’s 2026 budget by P60 billion ahead of the SC decision ordering the return of the same amount of excess funds that had been transferred to the treasury.
Speaking on radio dwIZ yesterday, Gatchalian said both the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed to add the P60 billion to PhilHealth’s programmed budget of P53 billion, for a total of P113.26 billion in the latest version of the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026.
Gatchalian said “strictly speaking,” it should be the treasury that should return the excess funds.
But Gatchalian said augmenting the PhilHealth’s budget in the 2026 general appropriations bill is the most practical and “fastest way” to correct the transfer of PhilHealth’s excess funds to the treasury. — Bella Cariaso, Jose Rodel Clapano, Elizabeth Marcelo, Marc Jayson Cayabyab
