Malacañang continues to scam us 92-M PhilHealth members

On Sept. 20, Bongbong Marcos vowed to return our PhilHealth’s P60 billion which his admin impounded in 2024.

- JARIUS BONDOC

DPWH had available savings, he said. Tens of thousands were set to protest nationwide the following day the P1.7-trillion flood works pillage.On Sept. 30, finance secretary Ralph Recto altered BBM’s order. The refund will be in Malacañang’s 2026 budget. He made BBM a double liar:

¢ At first glance, the P60 billion wasn’t in BBM’s budget for next year. Listed under PhilHealth were two items: P53 billion “subsidy” and P60 billion “benefit improvements.”

It turned out that the second item was the refund. Malacañang couched it in vague terms to hide the fact that it had robbed us PhilHealth members in 2024.

¢ There’s a catch. Reimbursing our PhilHealth’s P60 billion via the national budget means it would come from our taxes. In short, they’re robbing us again.

“They already stole our P60 billion, now they'll use our taxes to repay us what they stole,” retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio told Sapol-dwIZ Saturday. “We should not allow this.”

“The people have been robbed, still the people have to pay?” Pablo Cardinal David posted online. “How is that not a kind of double jeopardy — at least in the moral sense? The public was robbed once, and now we are being told to foot the bill again? This is unacceptable.”

The Senate and House of Reps are to reconcile their 2026 budget versions in two weeks. The bicameral conference committee is rushing it for BBM’s signature before yearend.

Voting 15-0, SC ordered the admin Friday to return PhilHealth’s P60 billion. Tt deemed unconstitutional Section 1(d) of Congress’ 2024 Unprogrammed Appropriations. That section directed the Dept. of Finance to fund public works with “excess” from government-owned and -controlled corporations.