SC: Oral arguments on P89.9-billion PhilHealth funds set in January

The Supreme Court (SC) set in mid-January the oral arguments on the petitions seeking to block the diversion of the P89.9 billion excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) back to the national treasury. 

SC spokesperson Camille Ting said in a press conference on Monday that the oral arguments are scheduled on January 14, 2025, at 2 p.m. and a preliminary conference is also scheduled before that. 

The oral proceedings stemmed from the petition filed by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, the Philippine Medical Association, and ex-Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno last August 2, asking the high court to issue a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to prevent the transfer of funds from PhilHealth to the national treasury.

The petitioners challenged provisions of the General Appropriations Act of 2024 and of the Department of Finance Circular 003-2023, which allows the return of the excess funds of government-owned and controlled corporations to the national treasury to fund unprogrammed appropriations. 

Of the P89.9 billion, P20 billion was transmitted to the government coffer last May while the rest will be released on a staggered basis, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto. 

Recto said that his agency conducted a cost-benefit analysis of using idle funds, and this showed that it would be better to tap such funds for key projects, noting a potential increase of 0.8% of gross domestic product and the creation of roughly 600,000 jobs. 

In a post-State of the Nation Address briefing,  Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said Recto had "promised" that the unused funds would be utilized for health-related programs. —NB, GMA Integrated News