The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Supreme Court (SC) unanimously ordered the return of P60-billion remitted funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth and prohibited any further transfer to Philhealth funds to the National Treasury.
SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting said, “The SC, through the ponencia of Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, unanimously ordered the return of PhilHealth funds previously transferred to the National Treasury in the amount of P60-billion and permanently prohibited the transfer of the remaining P29.9-billion fund balance.”
The SC also voided the special provision of the 2024 GAA as well as Department of Finance (DOF) Circular No. 003-2024 for were issued with “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”
These issuances were used as basis for the transfer of P60 billion PhilHealth remittances to the national treasury, in three tranches, until the High Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against transferring another P29.9-billion Philhealth funds.
The SC ruled that the Finance Secretary is not allowed to augment any item in the GAA as this prerogative belongs to the President, but the SC also said the President did not commit grave abuse of discretion when he certified as urgent the 2024 GAA.
In his separate opinion, SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said the presidential declaration of urgency should be considered invalid since there is no emergency or public calamity justified in dispensing with the constitutional requirement of three readings on separate days.
Petitioners in the consolidated petitions include former senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares, and 1Sambayan Coalition.
In February, the SC accepted the oral arguments of the petitioners who challenged the transfer of the funds to the national treasury to finance unprogrammed appropriations.