SC urged to resolve PhilHealth fund transfer despite return of P60B
Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares and former lawmakers pressed the Supreme Court on Wednesday to resolve their petition that questioned the unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget and the transfer of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) funds to the national treasury.
Despite the recent order of President Marcos to return the P60 billion to PhilHealth, Colmenares and former Bayan Muna Representatives Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite said their petition should still be resolved based on its merit as they warned of a possible repetition of “unconstitutional and illegal acts” in the deliberations for the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Source of guidance
“The decision in these consolidated petitions can also be the source of guidance in the passage of the 2026 GAA and future GAAs, to reform and overhaul a nontransparent and unaccountable budgetary process,” the petitioners said, adding that the high court’s guidance in the budget process is needed amid widespread outrage over corruption in infrastructure projects.
In their 10-page motion, Bayan Muna members asked the Supreme Court to resolve the constitutionality of exercising the presidential certification of urgency in the national budget, which they said could make the General Appropriations Bill “susceptible to insertion.”
They also asked the high tribunal to look into the conduct of the bicameral conference committee “which wielded so much power to insert provisions and projects in the budget beyond that which was approved by both Houses,” as well as the amendment of a bill already passed on third reading.
“The President’s pronouncement to return the PhilHealth funds clearly indicates how our executive officials treat public funds as if they were their own money to spend or dispense without rules of accountability and transparency. Like the stories told in oft-repeated children’s parables, the roots of the evil assailed in the consolidated petitions will happen over and over again,” they added.
Roots of evil
Bayan Muna is one of the petitioners in the consolidated petitions that questioned the transfer of excess reserve funds from government-owned and controlled corporations to the national treasury for unprogrammed appropriations.
This included P89.9 billion in PhilHealth funds, P60 billion of which was transferred to the national government in 2024 before the Supreme Court intervened by issuing a temporary restraining order that blocked the transfer of the remaining P29.9 billion.
The oral arguments on the consolidated petitions concluded in April after five sessions, with Supreme Court justices raising questions on the validity of the PhilHealth fund transfer and concerns that the money was “commingled” with other funds in the national treasury.
