SolGen: PhilHealth fund transfer ‘temporary measure’ to address gov’t lack of funds
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<div class="article__credits-author-pub"><a href="https://www.philstar.com/authors/1807953/ian-laqui">Ian Laqui</a> – The Philippine Star</div>
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<p>February 4, 2025 | 6:46pm</p>
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<p>MANILA, Philippines — The transfer of unused excess funds from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is a “temporary measure” to address the government’s “concerns about fund availability” for its projects and programs, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said.</p>
<p>Guevarra made this statement in his opening remarks during the oral arguments on the petition concerning the transfer of PhilHealth funds on Tuesday, February 4, as he presented the government’s position as the respondent.</p>
<p>According to Guevarra, the transfer, which he described as “within the legal bounds” is a “common sense” approach to provide the money for the government’s essential services. </p>
<p>“As luck would have it, however, the money needed to provide these essential services does not come easy in our side of the world. But as they say, scarcity breeds creativity,” Guevarra said. </p>
<p>“Indeed, our government will not be acting with common sense if it shelved other much-needed projects because one pocket is short on funds, while knowing fully that there is abundance in the other,” he added.</p>
<p>The solicitor general further argued that the transfer of funds ordered by the Department of Finance is a valid way of fiscal policy “to boost economic growth” without increasing national debt. </p>
<p>“It was the executive and legislative departments’ way of creating and implementing a fiscal policy to boost economic growth without bloating the government’s indebtedness or burdening the people with new tax measures,” Guevarra said. </p>
<p>One of the contentions raised by the petitioners is the constitutionality of the circular issued by the Department of Finance allowing the transfer of the funds to the state coffers, arguing that the 1987 Constitution does not allow it. </p>
<p>In response, the solicitor general said the finance secretary did not usurp “the president’s authority to transfer appropriations to augment any item,” as the process did not involve “savings” under the General Appropriations Act.</p>
<p>“No part of the corpus of PhilHealth’s reserve fund, after having been reviewed and reduced to a reasonable level, reverted to the National Treasury,” he said. </p>
<p>He also mentioned that the state coffers received only PhilHealth’s “surplus funds,” totaling P60 billion, which helped support health-related programs with approximately P46 billion under the unprogrammed appropriations.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court halted the transfer of the remaining P29.9 billion in unused PhilHealth funds to the government on Oct. 29, 2024.</p>
<p>Previously, P20 billion was transferred on May 10, P10 billion on August 21, and P30 billion on October 16.</p>
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