Recto defied SC

PhilHealth will still push through with its scheduled P30-billion remittance to the National Treasury on 16 October, pending any action by the Supreme Court (SC) or Congress.

This will be the third batch under the DoF directive to transfer the P89.9 billion in excess PhilHealth funds. So far, P30 billion has been remitted to the National Treasury — P20 million on 10 May and another P10 billion on 21 August.

If not stopped, the PhilHealth fund transfer will come out as the world’s worst health fund scam. As of now, it has the dreaded potential of snowballing into a global shame.

Recto gave false hopes to the 115 million Filipinos. Even if all his strategic growth-enhancing initiatives are undertaken, his goal of cutting the poverty incidence from 18 percent to 9 percent, and lifting 14 million Filipinos from poverty are self-contradicting, and the targets are as unreachable as the stars.

Obviously, Mr. Recto crafted his economic growth-enhancing strategy unmindful of the current political and socioeconomic-religious turmoil and uncertainty, and our people’s fear of nuclear danger because of our alliances.

It is in a time of uncertainty that priorities are changed and legislated funds are quickly utilized, in the name of national security.

It is at this point also when after the appropriated money has been spent, and the excess and transferred money of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) have been utilized, that the hard-earned foreign investments gained by President Bongbong Marcos from his foreign travels will be in danger of being diverted to projects other than those for which they were allotted.

Per the records of the Department of Trade and Industry, $14.2 billion in investments had been actualized for 46 flagship projects. All of this may be in jeopardy if the present state of affairs continues without the President being aware.

How can you lessen the number of the poor when you are even taking from them the PhilHealth money given to them by the law and the Constitution?

The particular prohibition issued by the SC that was defied by Secretary Ralph Recto under his immoral, illegal, and unconstitutional DoF Circular 003-2024 was this underscored dispositive portion, the second paragraph of the Supreme Court decision declaring the disbursement acceleration program (DAP) unconstitutional:

“For as long as this nation adheres to the rule of law, any of the multifarious unconstitutional methods and mechanisms the court has herein pointed out should never again be adopted in any system of governance, by any name or form, by any semblance or similarity, by any influence or effect.”

Mr. Recto need not wait for a TRO or for the SC to order him to stop transferring the excess PhilHealth excess funds and using them.

Instead, he should return the money and refund what has been spent. The foregoing quoted prohibition of the SC is for him to obey.

Recto should reckon with the fact that even the health workers, to whose emergency allowance the transferred P20 billion was allocated by Secretary Amenah Pangandaman of the Department of Budget and Management, are not in favor of the fund transfer.

They believe the transfer is illegal under the Universal Health Care Act and that, ultimately, they will be required to return it.

PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said they are just following directives.

According to him, Mr. Recto keeps saying, “If there’s a TRO or if the Supreme Court asks us to do otherwise, we of course will abide. If the Supreme Court tells us to return everything, we will follow.”

Keen observers find Recto’s statements reprehensible. They said there was no need for him to be told.