Senate Committee on Finance Chair Senator Grace Poe has clarified the recent controversy surrounding the transfer of PhilHealth’s unutilized subsidies to the National Treasury. During the Senate briefing on the proposed 2025 National Expenditure Program, Poe highlighted a critical issue: despite having available funds, the previous administration chose to take out loans.
“Ang nangyari kasi nung nakalipas, may pera tayo pero humiram at umutang tayo. Kunwari ako, may budget ako sa bahay. Meron ako sa bangko, P10,000. Ngayon, kailangan kong bayaran ang mga empleyado ko ng P3,000. So, imbes na kinuha ko sa bangko—may pera naman ako—umutang ako,” Poe explained. “So ngayon na meron nang ibang gagastusin, kailangan ko nanaman magbayad, gagamitin ko muna yung pera na nakaimbak dyan dahil dun naman talaga dapat napunta yun. So ibinabalik lang dun sa fund kung saan naman talaga dapat,” she added.
This, after a petition by the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and other petitioners for the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the transfer of funds from PhilHealth to the National Treasury.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto also addressed the issue, stating that PhilHealth was not responsible for the emergency allowances for frontline workers, as this responsibility was taken on by the National Government. As a result, the reserve funds were not used. “Inako lahat ng National Government. PhilHealth did not spend for a single vaccine. PhilHealth did not spend for a single frontline worker. The emergency funds of PhilHealth is precisely for something like a pandemic pero hindi nangyari. It was the past administration’s decision to borrow the money,” Recto said.
In response, Poe remarked, “We can now allocate the funds properly as they should have been from the start. These should have been contingency funds for health-related eventualities.” She further explained, “Maraming health workers ang nagrereklamo na hindi sila nababayaran. Pero hindi pala sa PhilHealth dapat yun dahil ang National Government noon ang nangako na sila ang magbabayad. Kaya’t kinukuha natin sa PhilHealth ang pondo na dapat noon pa ay napunta sa mga health workers.”
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman reported that out of the P89.9 billion in unutilized subsidies from PhilHealth, P27.5 billion has been released to settle overdue claims for over five million COVID-19 health workers.
