President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that the ₱60 billion in excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) that had been reverted to the national treasury will now be returned to the state health insurer, sourced largely from savings of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Marcos made the statement during his visit to Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
“Dahil sa ating mga ginagawa, siguro alam naman ninyong lahat ‘yung mga savings natin na galing sa iba’t ibang departamento—pero mainly from the DPWH—‘yung ₱60 billion na ‘yan ibabalik na natin sa PhilHealth,” he said.
In 2023, the Department of Finance (DOF) ordered the transfer of ₱89.9 billion in PhilHealth’s unused subsidies to the Treasury. Of this amount, ₱60 billion was already remitted, leaving ₱29.9 billion with the agency before the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the transfer following a petition filed by Senator Koko Pimentel and the Philippine Medical Association, among others.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto earlier reported to the Court that the ₱60 billion had been realigned to fund:
• ₱27.45 billion for COVID-19 frontliners’ allowances
• ₱10 billion for health assistance to poor Filipinos
• ₱3.37 billion for three new Department of Health (DOH) facilities
• ₱4.1 billion to strengthen existing DOH facilities
• ₱1.6 billion for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program
• ₱13 billion as counterpart financing for foreign-assisted infrastructure and health-related projects
Meanwhile, Marcos confirmed that the DPWH trimmed its 2026 budget proposal to ₱625 billion, down by ₱255 billion from the original ₱881 billion, after flood control projects came under scrutiny due to corruption allegations.
The President has ordered the DPWH and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to continue reviewing the agency’s proposed budget. He earlier said the 2026 allocation originally intended for flood control would instead be reallocated to sectors such as education, health, agriculture, housing, labor, energy, ICT, and social services.
He reiterated that there will be no budget for flood control projects in 2026 as the government presses its investigation into anomalous programs.
