By Ade S. Fajardo
In its unanimous decision penned by Justice Amy Lazaro, the Supreme Court summarized the PhilHealth brouhaha as follows:
On December 11, 2023, the BCC (bicameral conference committee) submitted its report to both the House of Representatives and the Senate, recommending the approval of House Bill No. 8980 which, first, reflected an increase in the amount of unprogrammed appropriations from P281.9 billion to P731.4 billion; and second, inserted Special Provision 1 (d) under Chapter 43 on unprogrammed appropriations, ordaining the return to the National Treasury of “the fund balance of government-owned and controlled corporations [GOCCs] from any remainder resulting from the review and reduction of their ‘reserve funds’ to reasonable levels taking into account the disbursement from prior years.”
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What this means in ordinary terms is that funds from government corporations like PhilHealth were turned over to the National Treasury to be mingled with other funds.
They could then be repurposed to fund other government undertakings like flood control projects.
Who is the author of the special provision? Justice Antonio Carpio, who is among the winning petitioners in the Supreme Court case, says it is Bicolano Congressman Joey Salceda.
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The secretary of finance is an ex-officio member of the PhilHealth Board of Directors.
Whether acting directly or through his undersecretary, which is normally the case, former Finance Secretary Ralph Recto had unrestricted access to the fund balances of PhilHealth.
Now executive secretary, Recto defends the fund transfer as having been borne by common sense, i.e., that instead of borrowing money from external creditors, government could benefit from in-house financing — in this case, government corporations like PhilHealth.
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The transfers from PhilHealth to the National Treasury totalled P60 billion.
This was authorized by its Board of Directors in response to Recto’s letter mandating the remittance of fund balances.
Surely, one must be aware that PhilHealth was created not to raise revenue and fund government operations. Member contributions are not ordinary taxes.
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The Supreme Court sadly noted that despite years of implementation of the Universal Health Care Act, “the benefit packages offered and the financial risk protection afforded to the Filipino people remain meager compared to the ideal.”
Filipinos continue to fear the prospect of hospitalization due to the meager PhilHealth absorption of their hospital bills. This could be as low as two percent — a pittance.
The provision that Salceda injected into the 2024 GAA was declared an unconstitutional “rider” as it was not germane to the purpose of a national budget.
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The comingling of funds in the National Treasury may lead to the mischief of subsidizing infrastructure projects with funds collected to ensure the people’s health.
No kickbacks should be realized from moneys intended to subsidize hospital expense. The promise behind the creation of PhilHealth must be fulfilled.
Justice Antonio Carpio, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Congressman Neri Colmenares, and other petitioners deserve the people’s commendation for taking their cause to the Supreme Court./WDJ