Find out why PhilHealth has P89 billion savings, SC urged

MANILA, Philippines —  Following the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court on the transfer of Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s excess funds to the national treasury, the chairman of the committee on senior citizens at the House of Representatives expressed hope that the SC will eventually find out why PhilHealth had billions in unused funds.

Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes said his concern is “why PhilHealth had P89 billion in unused funds from the national government subsidies to PhilHealth from 2021 to 2023?”

“The temporary restraining order does not address the merits of the case, but it seeks to preserve the status quo as of its issuance,” Ordanes said.

“I am aware that the SC is not supposed to be the ‘trier of facts,’ but because the issue of the transfer of PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury is already elevated to the SC, it is my hope the SC justices will be able to ascertain why PhilHealth had the excess funds in the first place,” he said.

Ordanes said there might have been a grave lapse in oversight on PhilHealth, which is attached to the Department of Health (DOH), because of the inherent flaw in the Universal Health Care Act that serves as the PhilHealth Charter.

“This brings me to my long-standing argument that PhilHealth is not a health care agency because PhilHealth is a finance agency and therefore it should be attached to the Department of Finance, not the DOH,” Ordanes said.

PhilHealth president Manny Ledesma said the state insurer fully respects and will abide by the decision of the Supreme Court on the issue.

Ledesma said PhilHealth has already transferred P60 billion to the National Treasury while some P29.9 billion remains with the agency.

Sen. JV Ejercito during the Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday urged PhilHealth to shape up and improve its services. -  Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin, Marc Jayson Cayabyab