SC moves PhilHealth oral arguments to February 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said it rescheduled the oral arguments of the petitions seeking to block the transfer of the P89.9 billion excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to February next year.

In a briefer, the SC En Banc rescheduled the oral arguments to February 4, Tuesday.

The oral arguments were initially scheduled on January 14, 2025.

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

So far, PhilHealth said that P60 billion has been transferred to the national treasury with only P29.9 billion remaining with the agency.

However, lawyer and Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares said that the TRO covers a total of P59.9 billion, including the P30 billion that was supposedly transferred on October 16.

The oral proceedings stemmed from the petition filed by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, the Philippine Medical Association, and ex-Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno, asking the high court to issue a TRO and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to prevent the transfer of PhilHealth funds. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA Integrated News