By means of John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter
PHILIPPINE LEGISLATORS on Wednesday evening ratified the bicameral conference committee’s report on the P6.352 trillion 2025 national budget.
The committee approved the final version of the budget bill earlier on Wednesday. After the measure is ratified by Congress, it will be sent to Malacañang.
Presidential communications fromFIce Secretary Cesar B. Chavez told reporters in a Viber message that Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will “provisionally” sign the General Appropriations Act 2025 on December 20.
In the bicameral report, lawmakers cut the P74 billion subsidy for Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in next year’s budget, saying the agency should use its P600 billion reserve funds to scale up its services.
“PhilHealth has P600 billion in reserve funds and they should use them to address delayed reimbursements, and we will use this (funding grant) to fund departments that need it more,” said Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. mixed English and Filipino.
Ms. Poe said PhilHealth would still have funding for its operations, but she did not provide exact figures.
Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, one of the authors of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, said the legality of cutting the PhilHealth subsidy could be questioned since it was made mandatory under the sin tax- and UHC laws.
“Under the law, this is really for use by PhilHealth and for indirect contributors such as persons with disabilities, seniors and those who cannot afford their premiums,” he told reporters later in the afternoon.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said PhilHealth could continue to provide services without the P74 billion annual subsidy.
“It’s a matter of spending, not cash flow,” he told reporters. “If you look at PhilHealth’s balance sheet, they are very healthy and the reserves are quite substantial.”
In a statement, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel opposed the elimination of the subsidy for PhilHealth because the Constitution requires the government to pay the premiums of its indirect members.
“Despite these ‘excess or reserve funds,’ there are still laws mandating this, and it is illegal, unfair and possibly unconstitutional to remove it,” she said in a statement in mixed English and Filipino.
“If the government abandons this obligation, ordinary citizens will be burdened with their monthly contributions to PhilHealth.”
In August, the Senate approved the final reading of a bill that seeks to reduce PhilHealth premiums to 3.25% next year from 5% this year under the Universal Health Care Act.
Ms. Poe said the 2025 budget does not contain a provision to allow the national government to mop up unused funds from government-owned or controlled enterprises (GOCC).
A provision in this year’s national budget allowed for a cash sweep of the GOCCs. The Supreme Court had blocked the transfer of P29.9 billion, the final tranche of PhilHealth’s P90 billion surplus funds, to the Treasury.
The excess PhilHealth funds would have been used to support unprogrammed appropriations worth P203.1 billion for state programs in health, infrastructure and social services.
Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III, coordinator of Action for Economic Reforms (AER), said removing the subsidy from the spending plan would worsen PhilHealth’s financial situation and make it more difficult for contributors to support the agency’s programs.
“What they have removed are the contributions of those who do not have the ability to pay PhilHealth premiums,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“That also means that direct contributors will be the ones who will solely bear the burden of supporting PhilHealth.”
Zy-za Nadine M. Suzara, a government budget analyst and former executive director of the policy think tank Institute for Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy, said giving a “zero budget” for the PhilHealth grant is like cutting funding for the needs of indirect members.
“The General Appropriations Act cannot change the Universal Healthcare Act and the Sin Tax Act,” she said in a Viber message. “PhilHealth should have a reserve fund for two years or for expected expenses.”
Meanwhile, the bicameral committee also reduced the budget for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) to P26 billion, Ms. Poe said.
The House earlier proposed a P39 billion budget for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) financial assistance program for workers with incomes below the poverty line.
The Senate previously eliminated AKAP as a line item in DSWD’s proposed budget and opted to merge it with another DSWD aid program.
Leonardo A. Lanzona, who teaches economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said the cut in AKAP funding next year would make it harder for the government to deal with rising prices and low salaries.
“This leaves the private sector with the burden of meeting society’s needs and weakens the entire economy in the process,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
In a statement, Speaker of the House of Representatives Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said lawmakers increased the daily allowance for soldiers from 150 to 350 euros, or to 10,500 euros per month.
Party list representative and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Elizaldy S. Co said that $16 billion has been allocated for soldier allowances within the budget.
Before the plenary, Mr Gatchalian told reporters that the allocation for DSWD had been reduced by almost P96 billion, while the Ministry of Health’s budget was cut by more than P20 billion.
However, he said their budgets were still within an acceptable range.
The DSWD was allocated a budget of P217.34 billion next year, lower than the P313.26 proposed by the House and the P226.67 under the National Expenditure Plan (NEP), based on a copy of the changes included in the harmonized budget measure provided by the Senate Public Relations and Information Office via Viber.
“We are talking about the DSWD still having about P200 billion, so it is still within the NEP proposal and my yardstick is to keep it close to the NEP,” Mr. Gatchalian said in mixed English and Filipino.
The DoH received a budget of P247.92 billion for 2025, lower than the P273.72 billion proposed by the House and higher than the P217.39 proposed by the Budget Division.
Mr. Gatchalian said the final budget bill included a P4 billion deficit for the government’s free university education programs
The Ministry of Education has an approved budget of 737.08 billion euros, which is lower than the 748.65 billion euros proposed by the House of Representatives based on the reconciled version.
State universities and colleges will receive $122.16 billion from the reconciled budget.
Mr Ejercito regretted the decision to cut the budget for the revised Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization plan by EUR 5 billion to EUR 35 billion next year, amid tensions in the South China Sea.
“At least the modernization plan funding will not be zeroed out next year,” he told reporters in mixed English and Filipino.