THE Office of the Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court (SC) to deny a petition seeking to halt the P89.9-billion Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) funds transfer to the national treasury, citing procedural and substantive issues.
In the comment filed on Sept. 4, Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra said the Department of Finance (DoF) Circular 003-2024 and Section 1(d) Chapter XLIII of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) were constitutional and did not violate Filipinos’ right to health.
“Assuming that there are challenges, roadblocks, and shortcomings in achieving the purposes of the UHCA (Universal Health Care Act), the same are matters only of its implementation, and are not tantamount to a violation of the right to health, as erroneously espoused by petitioners,” the 85-page comment read.
“All told, there is no violation of the people’s right to health in this case. The transfer of funds has not been clearly shown to have impaired, let alone violated, the mandates of the UHCA,” it added.
Senator Aquilino Martin “Koko” D. Pimentel III and ex-DoF Undersecretary Maria Cielo D. Magno, among others, initiated the lawsuit, seeking a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction from the high court to prevent the fund transfer from the PhilHealth to the national treasury.
Last month, P10 billion was transferred as the second tranche of the initiative. The initial transfer was last May with P20 billion.
Another P30 billion is set to be transferred in October and the last tranche with P29.9 billion in November. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana