Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Agatha Gregorio

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — For the Department of Health (DOH), the return of P60-billion in excess funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as ordered by the President is a “welcome” development with DOH Spokesperson Albert Domingo adding the corporation’s performance has greatly changed compared to previous years.</p><p>The funds were initially remitted to the National Treasury. </p><p>“‘Yung bagong allocation na binibigay na 60 billion ay welcome sa ating PhilHealth. Mula sa pananaw ng DOH, mahalaga ito kasi ibang iba na ‘yung performance ng PhilHealth ngayon. Nung unang nangyari, ‘yung panahon na kinuha ‘yung excess funds noong bandang 2024, hindi ganito kataas ‘yung gastos ng PhilHealth. Actually, ‘yung, numbers ngayon– sila ‘yung mas nakakalam nang exacto pero naka-150 billion na sila ng bayad hindi pa tapos ang taon, whereas noong 2023, 2022 at nung mga nakaraang taon hindi sila lumalampas ng mga 140 or 150 billion sa isang buong taon,” Domingo told ABS-CBN News. </p><p>Regarding the change in PhilHealth’s performance, Domingo said, “Tingin ng DOH ay naging epekto ‘yan nung nangyari na transfer, which is also in accordance with the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2024.”</p><p>According to PhilHealth spokesperson and Senior Vice President Dr. Israel Pargas, they are unaware of when they will receive the funding. </p><p>“We don’t know yet kung kailan siya mabibigay sa ‘min. But ang alam ko is ibibigay siya sa Bureau of Treasury. And it will be released by the Bureau of Treasury. We don’t have any timelines yet on when to receive it. We actually don&#x27;t know if it will be charged to the 2025 savings or it will be part of the 2026 GAA,” Pargas said in a phone interview.</p><p>While the Makabayan bloc called the fund return “long overdue,” it also views this as a “calculated move to preempt an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling and deflect attention from the questionable use of these health funds.” </p><p>In response to this, Pargas said, “I cannot give any comment on that. One is because you know that it is under the legal review of the Supreme Court. And we are just very happy that the president decided to order to give it back to us. So for whatever decision of the Supreme Court, we will just have to await for that also.”</p><p>Petitions were previously filed against an earlier P89.9-billion fund transfer to the National Treasury from PhilHealth.</p><p>The Supreme Court has also issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against further transfers.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>SUANSING VOWS TO FIGHT FOR THE ADDITIONAL P60-B</strong></div><p>House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Mikaela Suansing vowed she will fight to ensure the additional P60 billion will not be reduced when the bicameral conference committee deliberates on the budget.</p><p>“On the part of House, we will fight for that. We will fight for the retention of the additional 60 billion that we’ll put in the PhilHealth. Actually, effectively, it’s gonna be around 110 billion in total for PhilHealth– 113 kasi 53 billion pala ‘yung nasa NEP (National Expenditure Program) plus the 60 billion that we will add… I hope that with the pronouncement of the president, both houses, both chambers will be aligned towards that direction to retain the additional P60 billion for PhilHealth,” Suansing said. </p><p>Prior to this, Committee Vice Chairperson Romeo Momo Sr. asked what assurance is given that the corporation’s funding would not be decreased at the bicam level. </p><p>During the Committee on Appropriations’ Budget Amendments Review Sub-Committee (BARC) deliberations on Monday, the 2026 budget of PhilHealth obtained conditional approval for an additional P60 billion in funding.</p><p>The original amount requested by the agency was just at P49.01 billion.</p><p>However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/20/philhealth-s-p60-b-excess-funds-reverted-to-treasury-to-be-returned-marcos-jr-1305">announced </a>P60-billion surplus funds, initially remitted to the National Treasury, will be given back to PhilHealth.</p><p>Regarding the conditional approval, Suansing said PhilHealth must first be able to prove in plenary that it will utilize the additional P60 billion that will be &quot;beneficial&quot; to the Filipino people.</p><p>PhilHealth has repeatedly made promises before on expanding benefits and paying hospitals, according to Suansing. </p><p>“Ang tagal na po nilang pinangako na i-expand nila ‘yung benefits package. Ang tagal nilang pinangako na babayaran nila ‘yung mga ospital. So we need to demand from PhilHealth that na they have to commit that they will commit their benefits package before we give this fund to them… Puwede ko po bang mahingi rin ‘yung tulong ng mga BARC members to please help us get a commitment from PhilHealth na sisiguraduhin nila na magagamit sa tama ‘yung pera,” Suansing said.</p><p>Meanwhile, Parañaque 2nd District Rep. Brian Yamsuan wants an information drive from PhilHealth to help people who are unaware of programs, such as the P20,000 allotted for each Filipino annually for medicines under PhilHealth YAKAP.</p><p>“The PhilHealth should do an information drive in terms of rolling out all the programs—a very honest to goodness information program because people don’t know what kind of programs are available in PhilHealth. The YAKAP program the president is rolling out—nobody knows that they can avail of P20,000 worth of medicines if they are a PhilHealth member,” Yamsuan said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zb-5-xBdp9w?si=QB2hU-8LI04DpwhU" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br/></div>

<p>For the Department of Health (DOH), the return of P60-billion in excess funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as ordered by the President is a “welcome” development.</p>

For the Department of Health (DOH), the return of P60-billion in excess funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as ordered by the President is a “welcome” development.

DOH welcomes return of P60B PhilHealth excess funds

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DOH welcomes return of P60B PhilHealth excess funds

Agatha Gregorio,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 22, 2025 05:19 PM PHT

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Updated Sep 22, 2025 06:34 PM PHT

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PhilHealth

excess funds

Supreme Court

DOH

budget

House of Representatives

benefits

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