Perfect heist

The stealth and cunning of corrupt government officials know no bounds — Filipinos appear to have been robbed twice of ₱P60 billion each time, quietly and without consequence.

That is P120 billion stripped from the collective pockets of the Filipino people under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., carried out with brazen nonchalance.

During Executive Secretary Ralph Recto’s previous tenure as head of the Department of Finance, he issued a directive requiring government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to surrender their so-called “excess funds.”

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) was targeted for P89.9 billion in tranches from its reserve funds.

After some P30 billion was remitted to the National Treasury, the Supreme Court halted the transfers in response to petitions of budget watchdogs and healthcare advocacy groups.

Despite the SC order, the administration pilfered another P30 billion. Subsequently, the Court declared void Special Provision 1(d), Chapter XLIII of the 2024 GAA, and Department of Finance (DoF) Circular No. 003-2024.

The invalid coordinated moves of Congress and the DoF allowed the transfer of “excess reserve funds” or balances from PhilHealth and other GOCCs to the National Treasury to fund Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA).

The UA then absorbed projects listed as critical under the Philippine Development Plan, the economic blueprint of the Marcos administration.

It thus became incumbent on the administration to raise counterpart funds for the foreign-assisted projects that had been relegated to the UA.

The transfer of these projects to the UA created room for lawmakers’ pet projects, which are a well-known source of kickbacks.

Some P1 trillion in flood control projects since 2023 have been considered either substandard, if not nonexistent, or ghost undertakings through the exploitation of the UA.

Health professionals said the defunding of PhilHealth was particularly devious since health funds, which the law requires to be protected, were taken away.

When the Supreme Court struck down the transfer because the funds were earmarked for healthcare, the government restored the money without undoing the original disbursement.

The money should have been returned from the Treasury back to PhilHealth because both are under the Executive branch, but instead they charged the reimbursement to the 2026 GAA.

Thus, taxpayers paid twice, once when the funds were siphoned off and again when the GAA refilled the hole.

On 20 September 2025, threatened by a massive Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) protest rally, President Marcos, during a visit to the Fabella Public Hospital, or the National Maternity Hospital, in Santa Cruz, Manila, said PhilHealth would be funded and that the money would be returned.

Health professionals said that while restoration through the 2026 budget happened, the damage had already been done.

The defunding in 2024 had immediate consequences, including cancer patients losing access to expanded benefit packages due to delayed hospital reimbursements.

Hospitals that were already struggling also suffered cash-flow disruptions, unpaid claims, delayed salaries, reduced services, and possible closures.

The government must also provide a detailed accounting of how the P60 billion was used, given that it was never technically returned, as the 2026 national budget absorbed the cost.

The money was taken from PhilHealth which, under the Universal Health Care Act, is the steward of resources meant to fund free hospitalization and medicines for all Filipinos.

Rather than make restitution, the Marcos administration effectively robbed the public of P120 billion.