Senators hail Supreme Court ruling on P60B PhilHealth fund restoration

Senators from both the majority and the minority welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court to order the executive branch to return to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) the P60 billion in excess funds transferred to the national treasury.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, both said the 2026 budget bill the Senate passed already complied with the Supreme Court ruling.

“Already did in this budget for 2026,” Sotto said when asked for a comment on the Supreme Court decision.

“The 2026 budget proposal contains a P60-billion allocation on top of a P53 billion regular funding for PhilHealth. The P60 billion fully complies with the SC ruling,” Gatchalian said.

Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, a member of the Senate minority, asked for an explanation from the administration on where the P60 billion in PhilHealth excess funds went after it was transferred to the national treasury amid fears that it was used to finance unprogrammed allocations, including ghost flood control projects.

“I welcome the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in ordering the return of P60 billion funds to PhilHealth, which was earlier transferred to the National Treasury,” Go said.

"The Supreme Court decision is not just a big win, but justice for the Filipino people, especially the poor patients who were deprived of sufficient medical services,” he added.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a member of the Senate majority, thanked the Supreme Court for correcting what she called a major error on the part of the government.

“Bago pa man magdesisyon ang Korte, naglagak na ang Kongreso ng P60 billion para sa PhilHealth. Pero kailangang malinaw na hindi ito augmentation, ito ay pondong binalik sa PhilHealth. Hindi ito dagdag na pondo,” Hontiveros said.

“As we enact the 2026 budget, hindi pwedeng mawala ang binalik na P60 billion sa PhilHealth, at patuloy nating singilin ang P53 billion pa na utang ng gobyerno na hindi nito binigay bilang subsidyo sa taong 2025,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party said the ruling "restores resources owed to our health system and reaffirms a principle long under strain: public funds must be protected for public welfare, never bent for political ends,” 

“The ruling lays bare what health workers, economists, and citizens have raised since 2024: the attempt to sweep PhilHealth’s reserve funds was a deliberate distortion of the budget process,” it added.

Lawmakers and executive officials who allowed the diversion must also explain how such a provision entered the national budget, why PhilHealth’s legally mandated subsidies collapsed to zero in 2025, and why agencies tasked with social protection were mined for funds as though they were political reserves, the LP said.

"The Universal Health Care law—crafted with broad bipartisan support—requires consistent and adequate financing,” it added.

In a 136-page decision, the Supreme Court en banc ordered the government to return the P60 billion excess funds transferred to the national treasury back to the PhilHealth through the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The High Tribunal declared void the Special Provision 1(d), Chapter XLIII of the 2024 GAA, Finance Circular No. 003-2024, and the transfer of the P60 billion for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to a lack or excess of jurisdiction.

The Special Provision 1(d) authorized the return of the excess funds of government-owned or controlled corporations to the national treasury, while the Department of Finance (DOF) circular directed the transfer of P89.9 billion from PhilHealth to the national treasury. –with Ted Cordero/NB/VBL, GMA Integrated News