Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier “caught Recto red-handed.” It is widely cited by various watchdogs, officials, and institutions, including estimates referenced by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the IMF, that around 20 percent of the Philippines’ national budget is lost annually to corruption.

The premeditated conspiracy to betray the public trust by committing a massive thievery of the peoples’ money is incontrovertibly evidenced by: 1) legislators’ “insertion of a general provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act, specifically Section I(d) of XLII, on unprogrammed appropriations;” 2) former finance secretary Ralph Recto’s DoF Circular 003-2024 issued to government-owned and controlled corporations to remit excess funds to the National Treasury to fund unprogrammed appropriations; 3) the appointment as budget secretary of a non-certified public accountant, Amenah Pangandaman, who is hence lacking in accounting discipline to enhance transparency and ensure accountability.

Department of Finance Circular 003-2024 operationalized the scheme to fund the pork barrel, with legislators deliberately defunding strategic development programs and projects in the programmed appropriations and transferring them to the unprogrammed appropriations.

An analysis of what happened with the 2023, 2024, and 2025 national budgets revealed that the pork barrel constituted around 20 percent, or P3.4 trillion, of the three-year budgets’ total of P17.118 trillion.

During the continuation of the oral arguments on the petition questioning the legality of the transfer of PhilHealth’s unutilized funds to the National Treasury, Supreme Court Associate Justice Lazaro-Javier questioned the government’s urgency in transferring the PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury for the Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Bridge project, noting that it was already fully funded by the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

She also asked why funds meant for healthcare were diverted to an already funded infrastructure project, highlighting a potential conflict with the Universal Health Care Act and the wisdom of such allocation.

Justice Lazaro-Javier’s Key Points:

1. Redundant funding: She pointed out that the PGN bridge project had separate, secured funding from the Korean bank, making the use of PhilHealth’s excess funds for it unnecessary.

2. Urgency vs reality: She questioned the need for an “urgent” transfer when the project already had its financing, suggesting that the funds would be better used for pressing healthcare needs, especially as PhilHealth was facing its own financial challenges

The then-Solicitor General Menardo Guevara tried to frame the issue as a matter of legislative wisdom in allocating funds, but Justice Lazaro-Javier pressed him, asking, “Funding a project that is already fully funded, is there an urgency?”

Then she asked: “Where is the P60 billion?”

In essence, the justice highlighted the potential misuse and misappropriation of health funds by questioning the logic behind using PhilHealth money for projects that already had their own dedicated financing.

Email: arturobesana2@gmail.com