Recto: Right to health isn’t about protecting idle funds

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'We submit that the right to health isn’t about protecting idle funds, it is about delivering actual care,' says Finance Secretary Ralph Recto

MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Ralph Recto justified the move to collect Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) excess funds as the money was used for healthcare projects instead of merely being left unused.

According to Recto, the Department of Finance (DOF) found that the state insurer actually had P183.1 billion that it could have remitted back to the government. However, the department only ordered the return of P89.9 billion, comprising of unused government subsidies from 2021 to 2023.

Contributions of paying members were left untouched, he said. Meanwhile, Recto also emphasized that the state insurer is far from being bankrupt — with P498 billion left in its warchest as of 2024.

“The petitioners assert that the transfer of PhilHealth excess funds violates the Constitution and every citizen’s right to health,” Recto said before the Supreme Court on Thursday, April 3.

“Your honors, we submit that the right to health isn’t about protecting idle funds, it is about delivering actual care.”

He noted that if it weren’t for the DOF tapping into PhilHealth funds, the state insurer would not have improved its benefit packages.

Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., former PhilHealth chief, previously said that most of the state insurer’s benefit packages were left untouched for over a decade.

Most of the benefit packages’ updates came after Ledesma took office. However, he stepped down as he was not used to the politics that come with the position, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

Edwin Mercado was sworn in as the new PhilHealth chief on February 4, the first day of the Supreme Court oral arguments on the fund transfer.

‘Economically sound’

On Thursday, Recto noted that the PhilHealth board itself approved the transfer.

The DOF instructed the state insurer to remit the almost P90-billion in four tranches. However, PhilHealth failed to send the last tranche worth P29.9 billion after the High Court came out with a restraining order.

“Your honors, the P60 billion that was returned didn’t vanish – it paid frontline workers, built hospitals, and gave the poor access to medicine. Every centavo remitted was converted into service, that is fiscal justice,” Recto said, adding that the move was “not only legal, but it is also economically-sound, and a moral duty.”

“Almost 78%” of the remitted funds were used for health-related projects of the government:

• P27.45 billion: Public health emergency benefits and allowance of healthcare and non-healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
• P10 billion: Medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients
• P4.10 billion: Procurement of various medical equipment for government hospitals and primary care facilities under the DOH and local government units
• P3.37 billion: Construction of three DOH health facilities
• P1.69 billion: Health facilities enhancement program

“We cannot in good conscience allow funds to languish in bank accounts as our nation’s needs multiply daily,” he added.

However, the petitioners cited that the fund transfer violated the Constitution.

There was also concern surrounding the special provision included in the 2024 General Appropriations Fund, which allows the government to tap the fund balance of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC) for unprogrammed funds. Unprogrammed funds are standby funds that the government can use when unexpected situations happen.

The government said tapping idle funds of GOCCs is better than borrowing money, considering that the national government debt soared to the level that every Filipino is now indebted P139,000 each.

However, Zy-za Nadine Suzara, a public budget analyst invited by the High Court as one of the amici curiae (friends of the court) or experts, has warned that the government’s ballooning unprogrammed appropriations may be a new way of funding pork barrel.

The Supreme Court wrapped up the oral arguments on PhilHealth’s fund transfer on Thursday. Discussions focused on the status of the PhilHealth funds, whether or not its board could have defied government orders to remit excess funds, PhilHealth’s services, among others.

Recto on Wednesday said that if the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling ordering the return of the funds, the DOF will include the P60 billion in the National Expenditure Program for 2026. – Rappler.com