ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Rodriguez lauds SC ruling on PhilHealth's P60-B fund; says PDIC's P107 B must also be returned

Rodriguez lauds SC ruling on PhilHealth's P60-B fund; says PDIC's P107 B must also be returned

Published Dec 6, 2025 11:47 am

At A Glance

  • Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez hailed on Saturday, Dec. 6 the Supreme Court (SC) for declaring as unconstitutional the transfer of P60 billion worth of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's (PhilHealth) "excess funds" to the national treasury.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
(MANILA BULLETIN)


Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez hailed on Saturday, Dec. 6 the Supreme Court (SC) for declaring as unconstitutional the transfer of P60 billion worth of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's (PhilHealth) “excess funds” to the national treasury.
“We have been saying all along that this transfer violated the Constitution, the Universal Health Care Law and laws that earmark part of collections from sin taxes to health care,” said Rodriguez, the first lawmaker to denounce PhilHealth’s remittance.
“The SC ruling is a victory for millions of Philhealth members who were deprived of P60 billion, which should have been used for new or increased benefits,” said the lawyer-legislator.
Last September, President Marcos reportedly ordered the return of the P60 billion to PhilHealth.
Rodriguez urged Malacañang and PhilHealth to check whether or not the money has already been returned.
In its decision, the SC ruled that a provision in the 2024 budget law requiring government corporations to remit excess funds to the national treasury and a Department of Finance (DOF) circular carrying out such provision are unconstitutional.
The court said such proviso was a “rider” and “not germane or related to the (budget) bill’s purpose".
The controversial provision was originally contained in House Bill (HB) No. 9513, filed on Nov. 13, 2023 by then Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda. It was later approved by the House of Representatives but the Senate did not support it.
What about PDIC?
Rodriguez said since both the provision and the DOF circular were struck down as unconstitutional, the national treasury should return not only PhilHealth’s P60 billion but all other so-called excess funds remitted by government corporations, including P107 billion from the Philippine Deposition Insurance Corp. (PDIC).
“The P107 billion is intended for bank deposit insurance coverage. Its transfer to the national government prejudiced millions of bank depositors,” he said.
Aside from PhilHealth and PDIC, the “rider” provision targeted nine other state corporations, namely, Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine Reclamation Authority, TransCo., Philippine National Construction Corp. Southern Philippines Development Authority, Laguna Lake Development Authority, Cebu Ports Authority, APO Production Unit, and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions.
It is not clear if the other nine government firms have remitted any excess funds to the national treasury.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.