Senators on Tuesday reprimanded Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. for allegedly being disrespectful during the resumption of the marathon plenary debates on the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025

Ledesma was reminded by senators to be respectful in answering questions concerning the state-run health insurer’s idle funds.

This after Ledesma was allowed to directly respond to the questions raised by Senate Deputy Majority Leader Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito regarding the agency’s transfer of P89.9 billion of unutilized funds to the National Treasury.

“May I remind our resource person, especially since we have suspended the rules, to temper their responses with an iota of humility and perhaps answer correctly the questions being propounded by a member of this chamber so that we can have a semblance of sincere discussions here,” Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino said.

“Just a gentle reminder here to our resource person here, who was given the chance when we suspended the rules, to respond directly to a member of this chamber,” he added.

Under the Senate rules, only the sponsor of the agency’s budget is allowed to respond to the questions concerning the agency’s budget.

Senator Win Gatchalian, who presided over the plenary’s budget deliberation, seconded Tolentino’s reminder, stressing that Ejercito had been fair in his questions about the agency’s budget.

“May I remind the president of PhilHealth, the resource person, to please answer the question with respect and also to temper his voice,” Gatchalian said.

Ledesma apologized to the members of the chamber.

For his part, Ejercito, the principal author of Republic Act 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act that established PhilHealth, clarified that he held no personal objections against Ledesma.

“Likewise, I want to clarify that I am not lobbying for anyone in PhilHealth. Had you or PhilHealth performed well, we wouldn’t have anything to discuss right now,” he said.

“If you had fully utilized the subsidy provided to your agency or requested additional funding, we would have been more than willing to support it — provided the budget was properly used and the intended beneficiaries received the assistance they needed,” he added.

Ejercito had been questioning the agency’s excess funds, considering that many indigent Filipinos are having difficulties in settling their medical bills.

“We felt we were deceived. We fought hard to secure more funding for healthcare, only to learn that billions remain unused. Sana nagagamit na ito ng taumbayan (Hopefully it will be used for the Filipino people),” he said.

“Our aim with the Universal Healthcare Law was to make quality healthcare accessible to all Filipinos, removing the need for people to seek support from other agencies or politicians. But the reality is, many are still forced to do just that,” he added.

PhilHealth's financial health

Pointing to PhilHealth’s P89-billion reserve fund, Ejercito called attention to the apparent mismatch between PhilHealth’s financial health and its service to the public.

“PhilHealth may look good on paper with its financial reserves, but this is not a private corporation. In public service, funds for social welfare are used fully. Any unused funds signify failure — not success,” he emphasized.

“It’s time PhilHealth acts for the people, prioritizing the well-being of Filipinos over financial figures.”

For his part, Ledesma explained the reserved funds of PhilHealth ballooned due to the failure of the previous administration of the agency to enhance the health packages for the beneficiaries.

He also cited the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the reasons why the state-run health insurer managed to have at least P500 billion in excess funds.

“The first reason the funds accumulated is because, for 12 years, the case packages were not enhanced. Secondly, we went through a pandemic for two and a half years, and because of that, I think all of us in this room — and most of us — were afraid to leave our homes, go to the hospital, and see doctors because the pandemic was so serious, and there was a fear of catching COVID," Ledesma said.

"The third reason is, because by law — and Mr. President, Senator JV knows this very well — the premium contributions were already set. So even if we had a lot of funds in place, the collection of premium contributions continued," he added.