Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto defended the national government’s move to implement Congress’ mandate to redirect the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) excess and idle funds to critical health and social programs as not only within legal bounds but a moral and economic sound policy to benefit Filipinos.
“I stand before you, Your Honors, to humbly assert that the move to revert these excess funds is not only legal. But it is also economically sound and a moral duty. We cannot, in good conscience, allow funds to languish in bank accounts as our nation’s needs multiply daily,” Secretary Recto said during the fifth oral argument on the consolidated petitions challenging the constitutionality of the transfer.
“Not when the government is working non-stop to achieve its ultimate goal of cutting unemployment, creating more jobs, increasing Filipinos’ income, and bringing poverty down to a single digit or 9 percent by 2028,” he added.
A temporary and common sense approach
Secretary Recto stressed that the utilization of idle funds for greater use as mandated by Congress aligns with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework to ensure the country’s macro-fiscal stability by reducing the fiscal deficit from a high of 8.6% of GDP in 2021 to 3.7% by 2028 while cutting national debt from 60.9% of GDP in 2022 to 56.3% in 2028.
This means consolidating all public resources so that they are mobilized and utilized to gain the maximum benefit and high multiplier effects for the economy and the Filipino people.
“With PhilHealth’s remittance, we raised more funds without raising taxes and adding more borrowings that the next generation will inherit. We protected the people without punishing them,” Secretary Recto said.
He likewise explained the principle behind the policy, emphasizing that this will help the country grow faster while it continues to recover from the pandemic as well as navigate ongoing geopolitical tensions.
“Just as what we did during the pandemic through Bayanihan 1 and 2, we see this as a Bayanihan 3—not funded by new taxes, but one funded by the funds already in our possession to help the economy recover faster,” the Finance Chief said.
Acting on a moral imperative
Secretary Recto also emphasized that the policy is a moral imperative, ensuring that not a single centavo from PhilHealth members’ contributions was touched while compelling the agency to further expand its benefit packages to reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
“The move is aligned with the medical principle of ‘do no harm’. No member contributions have been taken because the funds remitted back to the national government ay mga subsidiyang galing din sa gobyerno na nakatengga lang sa PhilHealth. To let billions sleep while our people suffer is not prudence—it is negligence,” he explained.
“Kung hindi natin nasilip ang mga sobra-sobrang pondo ng PhilHealth, malamang hanggang ngayon ay nanatili itong natutulog. Sa katunayan, ang hakbang na ito ay nagtulak sa PhilHealth na mas palawakin at pagandahin ang kanilang serbisyo sa mamamayang Pilipino. This is the long term effect of this decisive policy,” Secretary Recto added.
PhilHealth’s excess funds went directly to health-related projects
Meanwhile, Secretary Recto stressed that of PhilHealth’s PHP 60 billion remittance out of the PHP 89.9 billion excess government subsidies, 78% was used to finance critical health projects.
“The 60 billion pesos that was returned didn’t vanish—it paid frontliners, built hospitals, and gave the poor access to medicine. Every centavo remitted was converted into service. That is fiscal justice,” he said.
