The return of PhilHealth funds is the people’s victory

On Saturday, Sept. 20, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced that the P60 billion diverted from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to the National Treasury in 2024, which was strongly opposed by civil society and challenged in a Supreme Court petition (GR 274778, Pimentel vs. House of Representatives), would be returned to PhilHealth.

- BY FILOMENO STA. ANA III and PIA RODRIGO

He cited savings from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects as the reason the P60 billion would be returned to PhilHealth.

President Marcos’ decision to return the P60 billion that the National Government took away from PhilHealth is the result of relentless, sustained, and immense public pressure, which started in July 2024. It is the result of the coming together of diverse segments of society: healthcare workers, labor groups, youth groups, patients’ groups, and government workers, among many others. It is thus the people’s victory.

But if the intent of the Marcos administration is to placate an angry nation and defuse a political crisis in the wake of the controversy surrounding anomalous flood control projects and massive corruption in the General Appropriations Act, its pivot is clumsy. And its concessions — e.g., throwing former Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin and strategic political ally, under the bus and returning the seized PhilHealth funds — are too little, too late.

“Tinimbang ka ngunit kulang (you've been weighed and found wanting).” We explain why.

Accountability does not end in rearranging the leadership in Congress. Let us not forget that the corrupted budgets in 2024 and 2025 were the handiwork of both Congress and the Executive.