December 16, 2024 | 5:19pm
MANILA, Philippines —President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, December 16, defended the move to give PhilHealth zero subsidy in the 2025 national budget, saying that it must exhaust its reserve funds.
Congress recently concluded its bicameral conference committee, deciding to compel PhilHealth to utilize its reserve funds, which amount to half a trillion pesos.
“Because the subsidy uupo lang sa bank account ng PhilHealth, hindi magagamit. Marami tayo paggagamitan noon so that’s so that’s a simple explanation there. They have sufficient funds to carry on,” Marcos said,
(Because the subsidy just sits in the PhilHealth’s bank account, it is not used. We could use it for so many things so that’s the simple explanation there. They have sufficient funds to carry on.)
PhilHealth’s budget cut was met with public outcry, with health specialists and opposition lawmakers decrying the move to cut the national insurer’s budget.
Marcos sought to quell these criticisms, explaining that PhilHealth will not be any less capable of providing services.
In fact, because of the continuous payments being made to PhilHealth, it was not absorbing these well.
“The problem is the processing capacity,” Marcos said.
Marcos said that PhilHealth must begin digitization efforts to streamline its processes and ensure a continuous flow of services.
Department of Health Secretary Ted Herbosa also defended the PhilHealth budget cut, saying that the insurer already has enough to pay for all of its members.
“Wala pong mawawalang benepisyo. Mga nananakot lang at nanga-agitate ang nagsasabing mawawala ang benepisyo ng PhilHealth. Napakarami po ng pera ng PhilHealth,” Herbosa said in a statement.
(No Philhealth benefits will be lost. Only those who want to scare and agitate are saying that Philhealth will lose its benefits. Philhealth has so much money.)
Bigger DPWH Budget
The president also defended the increase in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget amid cuts to the budgets of PhilHealth and the Department of Education.
The DPWH’s budget was increased by approximately P288.6 billion, rising from P825.11 billion to P1.11 trillion.
Marcos said that he had asked House leaders to avoid putting items meant for the DPWH in unprogrammed funds, and make them a line item instead.
“We have 3.5 years left. We have to get these things done. We have to get all the structures in place already,” Marcos said.
The president explained that the DPWH is set to be one of the top budget recipients due to the large-scale projects that need to be undertaken, including crucial flood mitigation initiatives.
“We had to build things that we never had to build before, binabantayan lang namin especially the ODA (official development assistance) project, binabantayan talaga namin is to make sure that our debt ratios are still relatively manageable,” Marcos said.
The president did not indicate whether he would veto any items related to PhilHealth or the DPWH. However, Marcos confirmed that he is set to sign the General Appropriations Bill into law before Christmas.
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