No provision in budget bill allowing sweeping of GOCC funds, senators say

By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

THE SENATE’S approved P6.352-trillion national budget does not feature a provision allowing the National Government to sweep unused funds of government-owned or-controlled corporations (GOCCs), senators said on Wednesday.

Senator and Finance Committee Chairperson Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares said senators deleted a proposal allowing the use of these unused funds, similar to a provision in the 2024 budget that allowed the transfer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) P90-billion fund to the Treasury.

“It (proposal) was deleted in the National Expenditure Plan (NEP) from the very start. That’s why I don’t see it in our version,” she said in a news briefing.

A provision in this year’s national budget authorized a cash sweep from government GOCCs. The Supreme Court last month blocked the transfer of P29.9 billion, the last tranche of PhilHealth’s P90 billion in excess funds,to the Treasury.

The excess PhilHealth funds would have been used to support unprogrammed appropriations worth P203.1 billion, which would support state health, infrastructure and social service programs.

Senators approved its version of the national budget on Tuesday with no amendments raised during plenary.

“No, we will make sure that it (sweeping GOCC funds) will not happen again especially with PhilHealth because we would want PhilHealth to increase their participation in all the medical expenses of each Filipino mandated by the Universal Health Care Law,” Deputy Senate Majority Floor Leader Joseph Victor G. Ejercito told a separate news briefing on Tuesday.

He earlier criticized PhilHealth seeking a bigger budget next year after declaring P89.9 billion as excess funds, while millions of poor Filipinos find it hard to pay their medical bills.

The Senate’s final version of next year’s spending plan cut the PhilHealth’s budget to P64.42 billion from P74.43 billion as proposed in the counterpart House bill, based on a copy sent to reporters on Wednesday.

The Department of Health is allocated a budget of P285.51 billion next year, higher than the P217.388 under the NEP.

Senators also restored a previously slashed P10-billion funding from the P50-billion allocation for the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization in 2025.

The Department of National Defense will also get a P266.28 billion budget amid Manila’s rising tensions with China in the South China Sea.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will also get an additional P600 million next year raising its budget to P33.06 billion from P32.46 billion proposed under the NEP.

China and the Philippines have been at loggerheads over confrontations near disputed features in the South China Sea, with Manila accusing China’s coast guard of aggression and Beijing furious over what it calls repeated provocations and territorial incursions.

Senators also retained the House-introduced P733.2-million budget of the Office of the Vice-President (OVP), a drop from P2.06 billion under the NEP.

“From what we see, the OVP is capacitated because in their total budget, they can use P600 million for social programs,” Ms. Poe said.

She said the agency did not file any formal request to increase its budget.

Legislators are set to start discussions to reconcile the two versions of the national budget in a Bicameral Conference Committee on Thursday.

This will include tackling allocations for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), or the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) financial assistance program to workers whose income falls below the poverty threshold.

“In the Senate version, the AKAP became additional funding for the senior citizens retirement pension, additional funding for the college assistance, childcare assistance and for livelihood programs,” Ms. Poe said in mixed English and Filipino, after the Senate agreed to boost the monthly pension for senior citizens to P1,000 from P500.

The Senate approved budget earmarked P245.84 billion for the DSWD, slightly higher than the P226.67 billion proposed by the Budget department and the Executive. The House had approved an allocation of P313.26 billion for the agency.

“If I’m not mistaken, we will finish the bicam by December 9 and I know that the target date for the President to sign the budget is by the 19^th,” Ms. Poe said in Filipino, saying that Congress was on track to follow this target.