ELEVEN priority programs that will require P203.1 billion to implement are expected to be supported by “excess funds” taken from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), including the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.
“We’re just following what’s in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). We’re following what’s in the law,” Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The 2024 GAA includes a special provision which allows the government to tap reserve funds from GOCCs to finance budget items whose sources of funding have yet to be identified — the so-called “unprogrammed appropriations.”
Some P51.7 billion will make up the government’s share in financing foreign-assisted projects, P40 billion will be applied to civil-servant salary increase, P27.6 billion to personnel benefits, and P26.6 billion to various projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The DBM also noted that revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (P10 billion), the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s Barangay Development Program (P6.5 billion), and the maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation of infrastructure facilities (P6 billion) will also receive funds which are as yet unprogrammed.
The government expects to fund such items through the GOCC transfers, new taxes, loans, and stronger-than-expected tax collections.
Other unprogrammed appropriations include P3.6 billion for the National Economic and Development Authority and the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Community-Based Monitoring System, P3 billion for right-of-way payments, and P415 million for the Fiscal Support Arrears of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program.
The funds remitted by PhilHealth in May will go towards P27.7 billion in emergency benefits and allowances of healthcare and non-healthcare workers.
Citing authorization from the GAA, the Department of Finance issued a circular ordering PhilHealth to transfer P89.9 billion in “idle funds” to the Treasury.
Following the May transfer, P10 billion was expected by Wednesday, Aug. 21. The third and fourth tranches will consist of P30 billion and P29.9 billion in October and November, respectively.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has said that PhilHealth would still have over P500 billion after the transfers to support its operations.
On Tuesday, he said the government should mobilize idle funds to support priority measures due to limited fiscal space.
Healthcare workers have expressed opposition to the PhilHealth transfer, saying that the insurer’s funds must solely be used to improve healthcare benefits.
The Supreme Court has yet to receive the response of the government to a petition seeking to block the PhilHealth fund transfers. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
