MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) wants the Supreme Court (SC) to junk a petition blocking the transfer of P89.9 billion in Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) funds to the national treasury over lack of merit.

“There is no violation of the people’s right to health in this case,” Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said. “The transfer of funds has not been clearly shown to have impaired, let alone violated, the mandates” of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, he added.

The issue started when the Department of Finance (DOF) issued Circular No. 003-204, directing the state insurer to remit billions of its “excess funds.” Under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, the government can tap unprogrammed funds for projects without specific financing sources.

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But in August, a group led by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the transfer and have the DOF return all the funds collected so far.

The petitioners want the High Court to declare the transfer unconstitutional, arguing that it violates Section 11 of the UHC Act, which states that PhilHealth’s reserve funds or income cannot be used as a general fund of the national government.

The OSG is arguing otherwise and saying that the DOF’s directive was well within the law.

“The raising of funds for government expenses is a legislative prerogative and the concept of an unprogrammed appropriation funded through excess revenue/funds is not a novel concept, as petitioners suggest,” Guevarra said.

The OSG also noted the petitioners’ argument that the fund transfer violates the people’s — especially poor Filipinos’ — right to health, but said the SC is not the right avenue for the claim.

“The foregoing subject matter pertains to unverified data that are appropriately deliberated before and ruled upon by a trial court, and not by the Honorable Court,” Guevarra said.

He also said that the fund transfer, “when viewed from a broader perspective, will not necessarily hamper, much less disable, the implementation of PhilHealth’s mandate.”

PhilHealth’s reserve fund was worth P488 billion as of March 31, 2024.

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The state insurer is doing the fund transfer in four tranches: P20 billion sent on May 10, P10 billion on August 21, P30 billion scheduled for October 16, and the remaining P29.9 billion slated for a November transfer. 

In a Department of Health budget briefing at the House of Representatives last Wednesday, September 4, PhilHealth President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. reiterated their hopes that the money remitted would be used for health-related projects. After all, the first P20-billion tranche was used to settle the unpaid health emergency allowance of healthcare workers who served during the pandemic.  

However, the excess funds of the state insurer might also be used for projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Transportation. – Rappler.com