DoF order on PhilHealth, GOCC funds needs critical review

HEALTH CARE concerns were a prominent part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, with the President announcing a proposed expansion of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to provide additional assistance for mothers and babies, and the extension of the mobile primary care clinic program begun this month to cover every province in the country. These are certainly welcome and much-needed, but the juxtaposition of these initiatives with the recent controversy over the transfer of P89.9 billion in "excess" funds from state insurance provider PhilHealth to unprogrammed funds held by the National Treasury cannot be overlooked.

In April, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto issued an order directing all government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) to turn over excess funds in their accounts to the Treasury. These funds would then be placed into "unprogrammed funds," which the government can use for budgetary support. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is one such GOCC, and in its case, it had built up an excess of nearly P90 billion. The administration has said that, among other uses, such as providing additional resources for key infrastructure projects, the funds can be used to pay overdue allowances to health workers.