As critics continue to voice out concerns against the government’s move to remit dormant funds from state firms, particularly of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), to the National Treasury, the Department of Finance (DOF) said that it is more “unethical” to keep these funds sleeping in the coffers.
“To the DOF, it is very ethical (to use these sleeping funds for other programs and projects). We think that it is more unethical to not use unused funds because they are just sitting idle in the coffers of our government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), when they should have been translated into programs and projects that would benefit the people,” DOF director Euvimil Nina Asuncion said in a TV interview yesterday.
“In the case of PhilHealth, our health coverage could have been expanded, and our premiums could have been lowered, but this did not happen. Nonetheless, the government is still providing subsidies to PhilHealth next year,” she added.
Asuncion said that for next year, P70 billion is allocated in subsidies for PhilHealth.
Asuncion said that if the idle funds are not mobilized for other programs and projects, the other options of the government to fund these would be by tapping lenders, which would further increase debt, or by increasing taxes.
“But if we spend it, the economy will grow, we can create jobs for our citizens, we won’t need to borrow, the government will earn and people will feel where these funds should be going,” Asuncion said.
“Every peso that we budget but do not use is a benefit denied to Filipinos. It is a disservice to the Filipino people, to the 115 million Filipinos who rely on the provision of services and benefits from PhilHealth and other government agencies,” she added.
