Palace, PhilHealth meeting set to settle issues on idle funds

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: BUSINESS UNUSUAL. Philippine Health Insurance Corp. transactions go through the manual process, like in this branch in Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City, on Tuesday (Sept. 26, 2023), four days after its system was attacked by the Medusa ransomware. The cyberhackers are reportedly demanding USD300,000 or about PHP17 million to decrypt the files, but the state health insurer said it won’t pay. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – Palace Press Officer and Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro will be holding a meeting with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to thresh out the issues concerning the state insurer’s excess funds.

“Later, I will be having a meeting with the PhilHealth representative so that I will be made aware of all the facts and details of these so that we can also tell to the people what really happened,” Castro said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Castro said there is a need for the public to know if the transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury is legal.

“We have to explain to the Filipino people what really happened – Is it illegal? Is it legal? Is it based on the law? And then I will tell you what are the things that we will be talking this afternoon,” she said.

The Supreme Court (SC) in October last year issued a temporary restraining order against the further transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury following several petitions.

The petitions — filed by 1Sambayan Coalition, a group led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and another group led by Bayan Muna party-list chair Neri Colmenares — sought to stop the transfer of PHP89.9 billion in excess funds from PhilHealth to the national treasury.

However, PHP60 billion in unutilized funds were already transferred at the time of the filing, with only PHP29.9 billion remaining with PhilHealth.

Castro said Malacañang will abide by the SCs’ decision on the matter.

“Whatever the Supreme Court will ask of the government to do, we will comply,” she said.