Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde | Daily Tribune

By scrapping the P76-billion subsidy to the government’s favorite milking cow, PhilHealth, lawmakers created new avenues to mangle an already notoriously perverted 2025 national budget.

Aside from removing the PhilHealth subsidy, the Bicameral Conference Committee — led by then-Senate President Chiz Escudero, Senate finance panel chairperson Grace Poe, Speaker Martin Romualdez, and House appropriations committee chairperson Zaldy Co — undertook reallocations and insertions that, by some estimates, reached P200 billion.

Critical funding for defense, education and infrastructure was among the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) set aside to make space for legislators’ pork barrel projects.

Curiously, it was Poe and Escudero, partners in several past elections as so-called independents, who vigorously defended the defunding of PhilHealth.

The duo’s main arguments centered on the supposed need for fiscal responsibility, given PhilHealth’s underutilization of resources and the need to reallocate the subsidy to other essential services “amid limited government funds.”

Poe emphasized that PhilHealth held P600 billion in reserves, which should be tapped first before seeking taxpayer subsidies.

She argued that the funds were “just sitting idle” in low-yield accounts, earning less than inflation, while the government was creating new money.

She dwelt on the public’s frustration with PhilHealth’s failure to provide timely reimbursements to healthcare providers and expand benefits despite its excess funds.

A zero subsidy would teach the healthcare agency a “lesson” to improve accountability and budget utilization, rather than rely on annual government handouts.

She failed to emphasize that the reserves were crucial for PhilHealth members, particularly during a health emergency like the Covid-19 outbreak.

Affected by the removal of the subsidy were PhilHealth’s indirect contributors, who are the indigent, seniors and people with disabilities.

Escudero added that the subsidy removal was meant to penalize PhilHealth for its mismanagement.

In the 2024 budget, PhilHealth was forced to give up P90 billion in “excess funds” through the manipulation of then-Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, who is now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Secretary.

A provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) allowed the Department of Finance to take the excess funds of government-owned and controlled corporations, including PhilHealth.

Another P120 billion or so was obtained from the Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corp.

The proceeds from the perversion of the budget were used to bankroll the campaign of administration candidates in the 2025 elections.

Escudero offered the lame excuse that PhilHealth had not lowered member premium rates despite its vast reserves, thus justifying the removal of the subsidy.

Senators Risa Hontiveros and Bong Go argued that removing the subsidy undermined health rights and could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs. Advocacy groups filed Supreme Court petitions in 2025 challenging its constitutionality, citing violations of earmarked sin tax revenues.

Escudero and Poe effectively tag-teamed PhilHealth to force the return of the subsidy, which, based on the latest account from the now-fugitive Co, was intended to build up a P200-billion war chest for the Senate, a sum reportedly demanded by Escudero.

Escudero and Poe go back a long way.