Former Bayan Muna Congressman Neri Colmenares and petitioner of the Supreme Court temporary restraining order (TRO) today claimed that the subject of the SC TRO was actually Php 59.9 B and not Php 29.9 B as previously reported.
Bayan Muna warns the Department of Finance (DOF) not to spend any amount of the PhilHealth funds remaining in the Unprogrammed Funds (UA) as the TRO covers even those previously transferred.
“We would like to clarify that what was restrained by the Supreme Court was not only the remaining Php 29.9 B but also includes the Php 30 B supposedly transferred on October 16, 2024, or a total of Php 59.9 billion. If the Php 30 B has been transferred to the National Treasury, we demand that DOF should return these to PhilHealth to be faithful to the TRO decision,” said Colmenares
“This is clear in the SC decision received by Bayan Muna today which states that the SC ‘GRANT the Motion for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order Pending the Scheduled Oral Arguments on January 14, 2025 filed by Counsel of the Petitioners in GR 275405’ (Bayan Muna vs Pres. Marcos et al.) and enjoining the respondents from ‘transferring the remaining balance of Php 59.9 billion of PhilHealth funds,” clarified Colmenares.
“We are glad that the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of Bayan Muna’s petition filed last September 6. We warn the DOF not to transfer the funds restrained by the Court and to return the Php 30 billion to PhilHealth if, indeed, it was transferred last October 16. We today claimed that the subject of the TRO also ask the DOF not to siphon the funds of Philippine Insurance Deposit Corporation (PDIC) estimated at Php 100 billion considering that the Court ordered DOF “from further implementing the assailed Sec. 1 (d) Chapter XLIII of the GAA of 2024 and DOF Circular 003-2024” which was used as the basis for these transfers,” he added.
“Bayan Muna questioned the transfer of PhilHealth Funds and the projects to which these funds can be spent. “We further question the infrastructure projects deemed by Bayan Muna as pork barrel, which were inserted in the 2024 Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) such as the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs (SAGIP but formerly called as SIPSP in the 2023 GAA) in the amount of Php 225.3 Billion, the double appropriations for lump sum items such as Maintenance, Repair and Rehabilitation of Infrastructure Facilities (Php 3 billion), Farm to Market Roads (Php 2.3 Billion), Pre-Feasibility Studies (Php 3 billion) as well as the Php 1.8B for Land Acquisition for the Office of the Vice President. While they use the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers as a shield to justify the UA, we were shocked to find that they only allocated Php 2.3 B to healthcare workers but reserved more than Php 200 billion for their favorite projects. That is a mere 1% of what they allocated for juicy infra projects,” said Colmenares.
“We demand a thorough audit of all expenditures which used PhilHealth funds, and the accounting of all other funds used in these UA projects. Since PhilHealth was not restrained by the Court from using the TRO’ed funds, we urge PhilHealth to use these immediately to expand its services to its beneficiaries especially those hit by Typhoon Kristine and Leon, and cover as many medical procedures and lab tests not currently covered by PhilHealth,” ended Colmenares.#
