MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the further transfer of excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to the National Treasury.

The SC issued the TRO on Tuesday, October 29, after three of the four scheduled fund transfers have been made. Out of the P89.9 billion ordered by the Department of Finance to be returned by the state insurer, P60 billion had been returned: P20 billion on May 10, P10 billion on August 21, and P30 billion on October 16.

The last tranche — worth P29.9 billion — was slated to be transferred in November.

“We fully respect and will abide by the decision of the Supreme Court on the issue,” PhilHealth Spokesman Ish Pargas said in a statement on Tuesday, October 29.

“We remain focused on our mission to provide all Filipinos with adequate financial protection against health risks through better and responsive benefit packages and availment policies that ensure greater access to healthcare services whenever and wherever they need them most,” Pargas added.

The High Court had consolidated the petitions filed separately the 1Sambayan Coalition on October 16, Bayan Muna paryt-list on October 16, and the group led by Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel on August 2.

“We, the petitioners, thank the Supreme Court for the issuance of the TRO.  This saves the poorest of the poor of Filipinos, numbering tens of millions, whose only source of life-saving medicine is the Philhealth,” said retired Supreme Court senior associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who also leads 1Sambayan.

“We hope that the Executive Branch will return all the transferred funds back to Philhealth pending the final decision of the Supreme Court,” he added.

The petitions were sparked by the Department of Finance (DOF) order for PhilHealth to remit its excess funds to the National Treasury in April 2024.

Ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address in July, healthcare workers’ groups asked the chief executive to block the transfers. Citing the Universal Health Care Act (RA 11223), they pointed out that excess PhilHealth funds should only be used to expand its coverage or use it to cut costs of contributing members.

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Finance Secretary Ralph Recto had noted that the 2024 General Appropriations Act allowed the government to tap reserve funds of government-owned or -controlled corporations to be reallocated as standby funds of the government. (READ: The unprogrammed funds issue in the Marcos admin’s 2024 budget, simplified)

“We will abide by the decision of Supreme Court or even by Congress. If Congress passes a law telling us to stop and to give back the money, we will do so,” Recto had said before a Senate panel on questions about the PhilHealth fund transfer on August 27. – with reports from Jairo Bolledo/Rappler.com