THE AFP modernization program will receive a funding of P50 billion under Malacañang’s proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025 in the face of China’s worsening aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel noted that the modernization program is 25 percent, or P10 billion higher, than the P40 billion appropriation for the acquisition and upgrading of military hardware and systems in the 2024 national budget.
“In the 2025 national budget, the sum of P50 billion in capital outlays has been earmarked to be used exclusively to support the funding requirements of the military’s ongoing modernization projects,” Pimentel said.
The Department of Defense (DND) budget in next year’s spending plan is set at P256.1 billion. The Philippine Army, Air Force, and Navy will receive P204.4 billion under the proposed budget, while P50 billion will go to the modernization program.
The administration lawmaker said the House of Representatives “is absolutely determined to keep up the funding for projects that are meant to build up the military’s national defense capabilities.”
Pimentel previously served as chairperson of the House Committee on Strategic Intelligence and is a strong backer of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States.
He is also the author of House Bill No. 1782, which seeks to appropriate P5 billion for the installation of new naval forward operating bases to secure the West Philippine Sea’s vast natural gas and oil deposits that have the potential to supply the country’s energy demand in the decades ahead.
Under the Revised AFP Modernization Program Law of 2012, the secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND) administers the release and use of the money for modernization projects.
Allotments for the purpose would be issued only upon submission by the DND of the recommendation by the appropriate bids and awards committee of the grant of contracts.
Last April, the Department of Budget and Management released the fourth payment of P6 billion for the DND’s order for two brand-new, multi-role missile corvettes from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.
Worth P28 billion and due for delivery in 2025 and 2026, the missile corvettes for the Philippine Navy are capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine, and anti-aircraft missions.
PHILHEALTH
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said the budget request of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) for next year will be subjected to tight scrutiny to ensure that its allocation will be used efficiently and properly.
Gatchalian, in an interview with dzBB radio, noted that the PhilHealth has a low absorptive capacity as shown by the excess funds it has accumulated the past years.
He said he has reviewed PhilHealth’s financial standing from 2022 to 2023 and observed it has funds which were not utilized. He did not give additional details.
“Meron talaga silang pera na hindi nagagastos, two years na. Kaya ‘yun ang gusto kong i-bring up pagdating sa budget hearing ng Department of Health (The agency has funds it did not utilize for two years now. I want to bring this up during the budget hearing of the Department of Health),” he said.
He likewise noted that the agency has so far failed to use its P61 billion subsidy for this year intended for the expansion of its indirect beneficiaries.
He noted that in the proposed 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the national government allotted a P70 billion subsidy for PhilHealth, which he said lawmakers should reconsider.
“Sa 2025, maglalagay ulit ng another P70 billion. Parang counter intuitive, parang hindi consistent ang kanilang mga ginagawa. Kaya bubusisiin ko itong mabuti. Ako personally, (bubusisiin ko ito) sa darating na budget hearings (In 2025, another P70 billion is allotted [for PhilHealth subsidy]. That is counter intuitive, it seems inconsistent with what it [government] is doing. That’s why I will scrutinize its allocations in the coming budget hearings),” Gatchalian said.
The senator said he would likewise scrutinize the budget proposals of other agencies with low absorptive capacity, pointing out that almost P1 trillion was not spent in the P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023.
“Napakalaking pondo ang hindi nagagastos, kaya kahit na tumataas ang ating pondo, pero hindi naman nagagastos ay sayang ang pera (So much funds are unspent. We are just wasting money because we are not spending them correctly),” he said.
Sen. Grace Poe said the Committee on Finance, which she chairs, will correct the misallocation of funds, which the previous administration reportedly practiced, to ensure that agencies can properly discharge their functions.
Poe was referring to the statement of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto that
PhilHealth was not responsible for the payment of the emergency allowances of frontline workers, as this responsibility was taken on by the national government during the past administration.
“Inako lahat ng national government. PhilHealth did not spend for a single vaccine.
PhilHealth did not spend for a single frontline worker. The emergency funds of PhilHealth are precisely for something like a pandemic pero hindi nangyari. It was the past administration’s decision to borrow the money (The national government shouldered all the expenses. PhilHealth did not spend for a single vaccine. The emergency funds of PhilHealth are precisely for something like a pandemic, but this did not happen. It was the past administration’s decision to borrow the money),” Recto said during the
Senate briefing on the proposed 2025 NEP.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, among others, have filed a petition before Supreme Court seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the transfer of excess PhilHealth funds to the national treasury, which the government said will be used to fund unprogrammed projects.
Poe said: “We can now allocate the funds properly as they should have been from the start.
These should have been contingency funds for health-related eventualities.”
“Maraming health workers ang nagrereklamo na hindi sila nababayaran. Kinukuha natin sa PhilHealth ang pondo na dapat noon pa ay napunta sa mga health workers. Pero hindi pala sa PhilHealth dapat yun dahil ang national government noon ang nangako na sila ang magbabayad (Many health workers have been complaining as they have not yet been paid.
We are taking from PhilHealth the funds which should be paid to health workers. But it is not for PhilHealth to pay but because the past national government promised to pay them),” she also said.
Recto, in a separate interview with radio dzBB on Sunday, said PhilHealth’s growing earnings and continued government subsidies will provide the agency with more than enough funds to cover the roll out of its new benefit packages this year.
He said the use of PhilHealth’s “sleeping funds” will neither affect the members’ benefits nor the agency’s plans to expand benefits this year.
“Yung benefit packages sa mga myembro ng PhilHealth, dadagdagan sa taon na ito ng mahigit 30 percent. Tapos ang malulubhang sakit katulad ng breast cancer, binibigay ngayon 100,000 pesos, gagawing 1.4 million. At marami pang iba (The benefits package of PhilHealth members will be increased by more than 30 percent this year. And then patients with serious grave illnesses, like those who have breast cancer, will be given around P1.4 million, from the present P100,000),” he said.
Recto said the agency has over half a trillion pesos in its coffers, enough to cover two to three years of its expenses.
“By the end of this year, P550 billion ang pondo ng PhilHealth. Kahit na dalawa o tatlong taon, sapat ‘yung pondong yan (By the end of this year, PhilHealth funds will amount to P550 billion which is enough to cover the members’ benefits in two to three years,” he said.
The income of PhilHealth has steadily increased since 2019. During that year, its income was P4 billion.
In 2020, it increased to P30 billion and further went up to P48 billion in 2021, and P79 billion in 2022. Last year, PhilHealth earned P173 billion.
Also during the interview, Recto said that P20 billion of the excess funds of PhilHealth initially transferred to the National Treasury was used to cover the health emergency allowances of health workers and frontliners.
Another P20 billion, Recto said, will be transferred on August 21. The funds, together with funds from other GOCCs, will not just cover key infrastructure programs but health and education initiatives as well. — With Raymond Africa
