Cited Laws
Accordingly, unprogrammed appropriations allow projects to be potentially funded in the future, instead of being removed outright from the GAA. As such, the use of unprogrammed funds gives the national budget the flexibility to fund projects without resorting to additional borrowing. He concludes that the secretary of finance complied with Special Provision 1(d) in issuing DOF Circular No. 003-2024 since it was done in close coordination with the relevant GOCCs to determine a reasonable amount called the "fund balance" that can be remitted to the National Treasury without jeopardizing the latter's operations. In the case of PhilHealth, he believes that PHP 183.1 billion falls under the definition of a "fund balance," which represents the difference between PhilHealth's accumulated revenue of PHP 464.3 billion and its estimated two-year average projected expenditures of PHP 280.6 billion as determined by the PhilHealth Board. More, the remittance followed proper procedure as the PHP 89.9 billion was only remitted by PhilHealth after securing a favorable opinion from the OGCC, Governance Commission for GOCCs, and the Commission on Audit (COA). On the economic and social justification, he posits that the PHP 89.9 billion was taken from the unutilized government subsidy in previous years and not from the members' contributions. Nonetheless, despite the decision to return PHP 89.9 billion to the National Government, PhilHealth recorded PHP 443.5 billion in accumulated revenues in 2024, which will be sufficient to cover the benefit packages to be given to the contributing members and indigents over several years. Therefore, on balance, the remittance of PhilHealth's funds was beneficial as it will enable some of the health-related and growth enhancement projects in the unprogrammed appropriations to be funded without having to resort to borrowing, which increases projected deficits and debt to the gross domestic product ratios. Indeed, of the first PHP 60 billion remitted by PhilHealth, 75% was spent on health-related needs and projects such as the public health emergency benefits, and allowances for health care and non-healthcare workers, while the balance of PHP 15 billion was used as counterpart funds for foreign-assisted projects. He also points out that the Provision on the ICL amounting to PHP 1.1 trillion and PHP 266.9 billion for 2022 and 2023, respectively, are only part of the requirements of the Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) and were based on a 40 to 50-year projections. In other words, the ICL does not represent the actual debts or liabilities of PhilHealth and is only used to reflect the worst-case scenario, which has never, and will never happen, since PhilHealth has never even incurred a loss. He explains that the assailed government actions are being implemented to maximize the use of unutilized or idle funds to support the country's fiscal needs and have historical precedents from the time of the administration of the