The PhilHealth fiasco

In a system of checks and balance, the Supreme Court has asserted its power to call out both the executive and the legislative branches for violating the Constitution by irregularly taking out the PhilHealth fund and transferring it to the national treasury.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez [e-mail]

The decision was unanimous and the timing couldn’t have been more opportune as both house of Congress are about to go on a bicam conference to reconcile the House and Senate version of the 2026 national budget.

The Supreme Court, en banc unanimously ordered the executive department to return to PhilHealth P60 billion of its funds. This fund comes from the contributions of employees and employers are required by law to remit every month to that state fund for the health services of the citizens. The government should have exercised utmost caution and prudence, if not delicadeza prior to taking out of such huge sum of money.

The blame falls on the former Finance secretary, now the executive secretary, for issuing that circular ordering the unauthorized taking away of that fund. If this fiasco happened in Japan, that former Finance secretary would have readily resigned and asked for forgiveness. And if there's such thing as command responsibility even the president himself should accept full responsibility for that faux pas. No one in his right mind would believe that order didn’t have the green light of the chief executive.