MANILA — Supreme Court Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez narrated how measly the financial help he got from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. or PhilHealth when he went through treatment for esophageal cancer.

Lopez brought up his ordeal during his turn to ask PhilHealth and other government officials in the continuation of the oral arguments on the questioned transfer of P89.9 billion PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury for use in other government programs.

“Two years ago, I was treated of esophageal cancer which went into my lungs and I had to be confined for more than two months in one hospital in Metro Manila, and if I recall it correctly, my bill runs up to almost P7 million and would you know how much of it was covered by PhilHealth?” Lopez asked lawyer Paula Mae Tanquieng, counsel for the petitioners.

“I am pretty sure your honor it is not more than 10%,” Tanquieng replied.

Lopez then said he only received P50,000, which is much lower than 10%.

He also lamented that for the successive treatments worth P40,000 each, he did not receive anything from the state health insurer.

PHILHEALTH: CASE RATE ALREADY INCREASED

But Philhealth Senior Vice President Rene Limsiako assured Lopez the case rate of PhilHealth has already increased.

SC justice says time to overhaul PhilHealth board

“Increased na po, 2024 po, starting 2023 actually, and then 2024, grabe iyong increase ng case rate ng PhilHealth, we have 30% in February 2024, and another 50% by December 2024 po, the average value of case rate increases po, I think nasa 13,000 or 14,000 pesos po,” Limsiako said.

Lopez then joked that his cancer came at the wrong time.

Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa also reiterated the provisions of Republic Act No. 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act.

He  noted that under Section 11, PhilHealth’s reserve funds should be used to increase the benefits and decrease the contributions of members.

“The way I see it, and again I am sharing you my understanding of the law, is there is an impetus to reach the ceiling, as soon as possible, why? To trigger the benefits, to trigger the lowering of contribution, I say that because I am a contributor,” Caguioa said.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who is defending the Department of Finance, said that the government must also take into account policy considerations.

“Your honor, I am also a contributor but what I am trying to say here is PhilHealth can do such thing, increase the benefit pacakges, even if the ceiling is not yet reached,” Guevarra added.

SC issues TRO vs PhilHealth fund transfer to treasury

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, in an opening statement read before the court, reiterated that the government needed to use PhilHealth’s excess, unused and idle funds.

“Hindi po pwede na kapag may nakitang malaking pondo na natutulog at hindi nagagamit para sa kapakanan ng taumbayan, hahayaan na lang. (We could not let unused funds remain unused) Sleeping funds serve no one, every idle peso is a disservice to every Filipino,” Recto said.

Petitioners however reiterated their appeal to the court to declare the transfer of funds unconstitutional, also to ensure that it will not happen again in the future.

“Siyempre iyong sa PhilHealth, dapat isoli ng buong-buo at kung isoli man iyon dapat ay,  pag mag-claim pala sila na nagsastos na dapat i-prove nila na nagastos na at hinihingi namin sa korte na kilatisin kung may korapsyon na nangyari sa paggastos ng pondong iyan, kung meron dapat isoli lalo at parusahan lalo ang mga involved,” petitioner Neri Colmenares said.

(Of course, that should be returned to PhilHealth. If they claim that the money has been spent, then they should prove that. And we are asking the court to scrutinize whether there was any corruption in how that money was spent)

"Importante rin magkaroon ng precedent, sabihin ng Korte Suprema na hindi ito constitutional, labag sa Constitution para hindi ito mangyari sa susunod, kasi marami pang mga GOCC (Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations) na pwede pang pagkunan ng pondo, kasi pera natin ito, hindi pwedeng gamitin sa iba,” petitioner Dr. Minguita Padilla said.

(It is also important for the Supreme Court to say that this is unconstitutional so this will not happen again. Because there are many GOCCs they can get money from. This is our money, it cannot be used for other things)