ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Plunder, other criminal charges filed vs Recto, Ledesma on unconstitutional transfer of P60-B PhilHealth funds

Plunder, other criminal charges filed vs Recto, Ledesma on unconstitutional transfer of P60-B PhilHealth funds

Published Dec 22, 2025 11:40 am
Former finance secretary and now Executive Secretary Ralph Recto and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. were charged with plunder, graft, and technical malversation before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday, Dec. 22.
They were held criminally liable in the transfer of the P60 billion PhilHealth reserve funds to the National Treasury.
The Supreme Court (SC) had declared unconstitutional the transfer and directed the return to PhilHealth of the P60 billion, and barred permanently the transfer of the remaining P29.9 billion.
Voided by the SC was the special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that authorized the return of excess reserve funds of government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) to the National Treasury to fund unprogrammed appropriations.
As a result, the SC nullified the Department of Finance’s (DOF) Circular No. 003-2024 that directed the transfer of P89.9 billion funds of PhilHealth to the National Treasury.
The charges against Recto and Ledesma were filed by the Save the Philippines Coalition group through Irene Ann C. Caballes, Elmer B. Jugalbot, Gerlyn Acedo Ogong, Emerita C. Pecson, Susan S. Villar, Mussolini S. Lidasan, Jose Jessie Olivar, and Jaime L. Miralles.
They asked the Ombudsman to hold Recto and Ledesma criminally liable for violations of Republic Act No. 7080 as amended by Republic Act No. 7659 on plunder; Section 3(e) of RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for graft; and Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code on technical malversation; and RA 6713 on grave misconduct.
The complainants asked the Ombudsman to order the preventive suspension of Recto and Ledesma.
They said the continued stay in public office of the two respondents “will cause the suppression of evidence against them by causing the loss or destruction of the same."
They alleged in their complaints: "The P60 billion PhilHealth reserve funds, illegally transferred to the national treasury, was earmarked to finance the Unprogrammed Appropriations, the illegality or unconstitutionality of which is a different issue altogether."
They also claimed that “despite full and complete knowledge of these very specific prohibitions, both respondents knowingly, willfully, maliciously, with evident bad faith, dishonesty and grave misconduct, unlawfully, illegally, and intentionally transferred the P60 billion PhilHealth reserve funds to the national treasury resulting and amounting to great damage and prejudice to the government and the Republic of the Philippines."
They pointed out that the transfer to Unprogrammed Appropriation, which was not part of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the President, is "an insult to the intelligence of the Filipino and an affront to their health welfare."
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.