SOLICITOR General Menardo Guevarra defended before the Supreme Court the legality and necessity of transferring ₱60 billion in unutilized PhilHealth funds to the Bureau of Treasury, calling it a “common sense approach” to finance priority government projects without resorting to additional borrowings or higher taxes.
Guevarra emphasized that Congress specifically authorized the move through Special Provision No. 1D of the 2024 General Appropriations Act, which directed government-owned and controlled corporations to review and reduce their reserve funds to reasonable levels to fund unprogrammed appropriations.
“Congress, in its wisdom, identified the fund balance of government corporations as a source of additional funds to finance the unprogrammed appropriations. The Department of Finance, in issuing Circular No. 003-2024, merely implemented this Congressional directive,” the government’s top lawyer said.
Guevarra underscored the urgent need to allocate resources responsibly amid the country’s P15.8 trillion national debt.
He explained that “it might have been less complicated if the national government simply borrowed money. But then we must consider that, as of the end of February 2024, the national government debt was already recorded at ₱15.8 trillion. Every Filipino, young and old, rich and poor, able and disabled, is indebted in the amount of ₱139,000 each. This is rather heavy,” he said.
Instead of increasing this burden, the government opted to redirect unutilized funds, ensuring they were legally used for public benefit rather than remaining idle.
He also pointed out that PhilHealth’s fund balance—₱89.9 billion in unused government subsidies from 2021 to 2023—exceeded the total benefit claims of indirect contributors during the same period.
The transfer did not affect PhilHealth’s ability to cover healthcare claims and, in fact, supported additional health-related programs under the unprogrammed appropriations.
“Indeed, our government will not be acting with common sense if it shelved other much-needed projects because one pocket is short on funds while knowing fully that there is abundance in the other.”