THE LARGEST chunk of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) P60-billion excess funds remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) went to health and social service programs, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.
This comes after the second round of oral arguments, questioning the legality of the controversial transfer of P89.9 billion in excess reserve funds from PhilHealth to the BTr.
“As a matter of fact, as of December of 2024, the total amount of P46 billion, thereabouts, more or less, had been devoted under the unprogrammed appropriations for social — more particularly, health projects,” Solicitor-General Menardo I. Guevarra said in a statement on Wednesday.
The DoF said the largest chunk P27.45 billion was used to settle the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care and Non-Healthcare Workers.
In addition, P10 billion was used for medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients, while P4.10 billion funded the procurement of medical equipment for the hospitals of the Department of Health (DoH), local government units, and primary care facilities.
The DoF added that P3.37 billion went to finance the construction of three DoH health facilities, while P1.69 billion was allocated to the Health Facilities Enhancement Program.
“The rest, or about P13 billion, was used to fund government counterpart financing for foreign-assisted infrastructure and ‘social determinants for health’ project,” it said.
Among the projects under the unprogrammed appropriations for government counterpart financing are the Metro Manila Subway Project, the Philippine Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Project, the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project and the Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project.
As of last year, the DoF said PhilHealth’s P498 billion is more than enough to continue increasing its inpatient, outpatient, and special benefit packages. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante