(File photo)
MANILA – The Department of Finance (DOF) said the use of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) sleeping funds for the government’s priority programs and projects would do no harm on its members and plans to expand its benefit packages this year.
"So, ang nakita po na unused funds in PhilHealth is around is PHP89.9 billion. Kaklaruhin po namin na ito po ay galing sa subsidiya ng national government and hindi po tayo kukuha ng mga pondo na galing po sa kontribyusyon nating mga miyembro (So we saw that the unused funds in PhilHealth is around 8PHP9.9 billion. We want to make it clear that this comes from the subsidy of the national government and we will not take funds that come from the contributions of the members)," DOF Director Euvimil Nina Asuncion said during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Thursday.
"Tayo pong naghuhulog sa PhilHealth, hindi po tayo maaapektuhan because iyon nga po, these are funds that are subsidies from the government (Those of us who are paying for PhilHealth, we will not be affected because that's it, these are funds that are subsidies from the government)," she added.
Asuncion clarified that even if the PHP89.9 billion unused government subsidies will be transferred to the National Treasury, PhilHealth is still equipped with around PHP550 billion in its coffers, which is more than enough to increase the benefits of its direct and indirect contributors, covering two to three years of expenses.
She also clarified that of the PHP89.9 billion, PHP20 billion, which was initially remitted to the National Treasury, was used to pay the health workers' allowance.
Another PHP10 billion, meanwhile, was transferred to the Treasury on Wednesday.
Asuncion said PhilHealth asked to remit the PHP89.9 billion in tranches.
According to Asuncion, the unused government subsidies will also be used to fund the PHP40 billion needed for the salary increase of government workers.
She said these will also be used to support the government's foreign-assisted projects, projects to combat malnutrition, technical and vocational skills development, the Philippine Rural Development Program for the agriculture sector, projects that will provide clean water to rural areas, and flood control and river basins projects.
Asuncion noted that the DOF’s move to sweep idle funds of government-owned and controlled corporations is in line with Congress’ order under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2024 to fund the Unprogrammed Appropriations.
"So, ang provision po under the General Appropriations Act is that, sabi po doon, tingnan po natin kung mayroon pong unused funds ang ating mga GOCCs at if mayroon po silang unused funds eh ibalik po natin ito sa ating general fund and gastusin po natin sa mga programa at proyekto na nakalista rin naman po sa General Appropriations Act (So, the provision under the General Appropriations Act is that, it says, let's see if our GOCCs have unused funds and if they have unused funds, let's return it to our general fund and spend it on programs and projects that are also listed in the General Appropriations Act)," she said.
The DOF’s cost-benefit analysis earlier showed that the projects to be funded under the Unprogrammed Appropriations will hike real gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.7 percent, increase an additional PHP23-24.4 billion in revenues, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. (PNA)
