Malacañang said it respects the Supreme Court's decision to return the P60-billion excess funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth).

"We respect the decision of the Supreme Court. The Office of the Solicitor General will review the ruling and decide on the appropriate course of action to take including the filing of a motion for reconsideration," Presidential Communication Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez said in a statement on Friday, Dec. 5.

"We note that majority of the members of the high tribunal declared as unconstitutional a provision of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2024 passed by Congress. We note that the Executive simply complied with the congressional mandate under the said law)," Gomez added.

The Press Secretary noted that President Marcos on Sept. 20 "took proactive steps to restore PhilHealth’s excess fund worth P60 billion."

The move, Gomez stressed, was "a recognition of the agency’s stronger performance, increased absorptive capacity and expanded benefits in line with the government’s goal of delivering universal healthcare for all Filipinos."

He further noted that the House of Representatives incorporated the restoration in the general appropriations bill and the Senate likewise upheld the directive in its committee report.

In a statement, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, who was the secretary of the Department of Finance during the transfer of fund balances from PhilHealth, also expressed that he respects the decision of the Supreme Court.

"We respect the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the return of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) remittance of unused funds worth P60 billion," Recto said.

Recto stressed that the Executive will follow the order of the Supreme Court, "just as we previously complied with the directive of Congress to use the idle funds of the government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) for the welfare of the people."

The Executive Secretary, however, maintained that the Executive simply complied with the congressional mandate, noting that the move was approved by concerned government agencies, including PhilHealth.

"We reiterate that the Executive simply complied with the congressional mandate under the 2024 GAA, and that the Department of Finance’s (DOF) role is solely in revenue generation and debt and deficit management. We believed then, and still believe, that the directive was a common-sense approach to optimize government coffers without resorting to additional borrowing or new taxes," Recto said.

"Before any remittance occurred, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), and the Commission on Audit (COA) gave DOF the green light to do so. The PhilHealth board also approved the transfer," Recto added.

Recto further underscored that PhilHealth’s services were never impaired and no member contributions were taken.

"We also stress that PhilHealth’s ability to deliver services was never impaired by the fund transfer and no member contributions were taken. In fact, the correction led to the agency’s largest expansion of benefit packages in Universal Health Care history, alongside the rollout of Zero Balance Billing to protect Filipino families from rising medical costs," Recto said.