SolGen: No violations in PhilHealth fund transfer to nat’l treasury

MANILA – The Office of the Solicitor General on Tuesday defended before the Supreme Court (SC) the transfer of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) funds to the national treasury.

During oral arguments, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said the fund transfer was a “temporary measure to address — within legal bounds — concerns on fund availability for important government programs and projects under the Philippine system of government.”

“I assure the Honorable Court and the people that, contrary to what has been portrayed by some critics, there was no dark or sinister plan behind the transfer of the PHP60 billion fund balance from PhilHealth to the treasury,” Guevarra told the high court.

He also asked, as a procedural matter, to strike out the name of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as among the respondents, citing legal precedents on the Chief Executive’s immunity from suit while in office.

In October, the SC issued a temporary restraining order against the further transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury.

The petitions were filed by 1Sambayan Coalition, a group led by Senate Minority Leaer Aquilino Koko Pimentel III and another group led by Bayan Muna party-list chair Neri Colmenares to stop the transfer of PHP89.9 billion in excess funds from PhilHealth to the national treasury.

However, PHP60 billion in unutilized funds were already transferred, with only PHP29.9 billion remaining with PhilHealth.

Guevarra said the decision was made so as to allow the government to implement its priority programs without resorting to debt.

“It might have been less complicated if the national government simply borrowed money. But then, we must consider that, as of the end of February 2024, the national government debt was already recorded at PHP15.18 trillion,” he explained.

Based on a population of 114 million in 2025, Guevarra said every Filipino, “young and old, rich and poor, abled and disabled, is indebted in the amount of PHP139,000 each.”

“This is rather heavy. It is in this cash-starved context that the Congress trained its sight on money that was there but was not being productively utilized,” he said.

Guevarra said It was the executive and legislative departments’ way of creating and implementing a fiscal policy to boost economic growth without bloating the government’s indebtedness or burdening the people with new tax measures.

He said it is “a common-sense approach that does not violate any law, much less the constitution, in any way.”

Guevarra noted that state finance managers have determined that over a three-year period, the total government subsidies to PhilHealth amounted to PHP239.11 billion, while the total benefit claims of indirect contributors reached only PHP149.23 billion.

In particular, the government subsidies exceeded the total benefit claims of indirect contributors by PHP27.12 billion in 2021, by PHP23.97 billion in 2022, and by PHP38.79 billion in 2023, or a total of PHP89.9 billion.

“PhilHealth’s fund balance of PHP89.9 billion was thus an accumulation of three years’ worth of government subsidies which had remained unexpended or unutilized as of the end of 2023,” Guevarra said.

The oral arguments will resume on Feb. 25. — Benjamin Pulta (PNA)

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Credit belongs to: www.pna.gov.ph