DoH told to ensure PhilHealth services remain unhampered
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday directed the Health department to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of services by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) after it was given zero subsidy.
Mr. Marcos and his economic team met with the Department of Health among other government agencies to review their budgets under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“Make sure that services of PhilHealth remain unhampered,” Mr. Marcos told Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa at a meeting at the presidential palace, based on a press release from his office.
The health insurer has no government subsidies under 2025 General Appropriations Act, prompting backlash from civic groups.
The President said the “zero budget” for PhilHealth should not affect the delivery of healthcare services.”
PhilHealth members’ out-of-pocket expenditures were already at 44%-50%, the third highest in Southeast Asia, former Department of Health advisor Anthony C. Leachon told BusinessWorld in late December.
He said if the P74-billion government subsidy for PhilHealth was not taken down, the expenses could be reduced to 30% in the next three years.
Mr. Marcos, meanwhile, urged Mr. Herbosa to shift the DoH’s focus to prevention from cure, stressing that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound in cure.”
“The President also underscored the importance of digitalizing the DoH to enhance service delivery and efficiency,” the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said.
It said the President “reiterated the administration’s commitment to prioritizing social services in the 2025 national budget, focusing on key sectors such as education, health, economic services, infrastructure and agriculture.”
The P6.326-trillion national budget is 0.4% lower than the P6.352-trillion spending plan that the Department of Budget and Management submitted to Congress in August. This is equivalent to 22% of the projected gross domestic product in 2025.
The President, meanwhile, said the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) should be excluded from unprogrammed appropriations next year.
This will enable the fast implementation of state welfare programs, he said in a separate meeting with the DSWD.
“DSWD programs should no longer [be] in the unprogrammed appropriation next year,” he said.
“It should be under programmed funds so it could be quickly availed,” he added in Filipino.
The DSWD budget was reduced by P10.85 billion or 4.79% to P215.82 billion in the 2025 GAA from P226.67 billion in the 2024 national budget.
“The DSWD is requesting P41.8 billion as additional funding from the Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) to cover the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) grants for the period August to December 2025,” the PCO said.
Also on Tuesday, Mr. Marcos asked the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to prioritize the department’s Common Tower Program (CTP).
“Focus on the Common Tower [Program] because we will be serving more people through that,” he said in a separate meeting with the DICT.
The PCO said the Marcos government is now handling 1,277 government systems from 250 earlier.
DICT Secretary Ivan John E. Uy assured the President of uninterrupted and more efficient operations for renewing 15,715 Free Wi-Fi access point sites at P6 billion.
About P1.5 billion could be allocated for new sites and other initiatives, including the CTP, he said, according to the PCO.
He said the CTP is expected to “serve at least 404,600 direct beneficiaries and an estimated 2,023,000 indirect beneficiaries.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
