Senator Loren Legarda urged lawmakers to fully fund the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in accordance with existing law, stressing that billions of pesos earmarked for public health have been withheld or left out of recent national budgets.

Speaking earlier during the bicameral conference committee deliberations on the disagreeing provisions of House Bill No. 4058, or the proposed 2026 National Budget, Legarda pressed members of the panel to restore funds for PhilHealth mandated under Republic Act No. 10351, also known as the Sin Tax Reform Act.

The law directs the bulk of incremental revenues from alcohol and tobacco excise taxes to the health sector, particularly to Department of Health programs and PhilHealth premiums for vulnerable and marginalized Filipinos. However, Legarda said these earmarked funds have not been consistently reflected in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), contributing to funding gaps in the implementation of Universal Health Care.

“We are grateful to the House for indicating in the HGAB the P60 billion which rightfully belongs to PhilHealth. We also take note that in the National Expenditure Program, there’s a P53 billion from the sin tax allocation for PhilHealth,” Legarda said. 

“However, let me please put it on record that the P53 billion is an incomplete NEP proposal. I appeal to the Bicam to put what is rightfully belonging to health,” she added.

Legarda noted that for several years, PhilHealth has not received the full allocation prescribed by law from sin tax revenues, stressing that legal mandates must be followed.

“There is something terribly wrong here. Let me just put on record, Mr. Chair, that there is a P236.91 billion funds missing which should go to public health. And this would include the multi-year earmarking of the sin tax, which were not funded, including the NEP of P53 billion," she said.

She also pointed out that the 2025 GAA did not include the sin tax allocation for PhilHealth, despite clear legal provisions requiring it.

“We also take note that the 2025 GAA did not have the sin tax allocation, which miraculously disappeared in the GAA. We, both Houses of Congress, owe that to the Filipino people,” Legarda added.

The bicameral committee is currently reconciling the Senate and House versions of the 2026 national budget, which will determine final allocations for key government agencies and programs, including PhilHealth.