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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Fake news: Remittance of unused funds from Philhealth not illegal, Recto says

Fake news: Remittance of unused funds from Philhealth not illegal, Recto says

Published Jul 30, 2024 06:06 am

Department of Finance (DOF) Ralph Recto clarified on Tuesday, July 30, that the remittance of P89.9 billion in unused funds from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is not illegal.

Ralph Recto.png

Recto said this during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, as he addressed erroneous statements making rounds in social media, emphasizing the legal basis behind the transfer and use of PhilHealth’s unutilized funds to finance projects under the Unprogrammed Appropriations.

"Hindi po ito ilegal. Ito po ay naaayon sa batas na Republic Act No. 11975, o ang General Appropriations Act 2024. Tumatalima lang kami sa batas na pinagtibay ninyo (This is not illegal. This is in accordance with Republic Act No. 11975, or the General Appropriations Act 2024. We're just following the law that you adopted)," Recto said.

"At hindi automatic naming in-implement ito dahil binusisi muna namin kung may merit ang kautusan. Dumaan muna ito sa masusing pag-repaso ng DOF para malaman kung makakatulong nga ba ito sa paglago ng ekonomiya (This was not automatically implemented because this was analyzed if it has merit. It went through DOF's rigorous study to know if this will help in improving the economy)," he added.

Recto said they were told that this PhilHealth remittance does not include funds that the government cannot touch according to the Universal Health Care Act.

He mentioned a week ago that this remittance from PhilHealth is projected to boost economic growth by 0.8 percentage points and that these funds will be channeled to support various initiatives, including foreign-assisted projects.

Furthermore, he clarified that these funds will not be allocated to the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

So far, Recto stated that only P20-billion has been remitted to the National Treasury. He further said that the DOF respects PhilHealth's cash management operations and that there is a remittance schedule for the funds.

Recto also clarified that PhilHealth will not be left bankrupt with this remittance and will be left with a P500-billion benefit chest fund.

He assured PhilHealth members that this will not affect the benefits they will receive or their contributions.

"Let me assure the public that there is no advocate more committed to higher health spending than the DOF," he said.

He also assured the public that the funds would benefit health-related projects, which enabled the national government to release P27.5 billion representing 5.04 claims of long-overdue benefits and allowances of frontliners during the pandemic.

Related Tags

Universal Health Care Act Department of Finance (DOF) Senate Committee on Health and Demography
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