HEALTH advocates questioned with the Supreme Court the supposed “zero budget” of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) this year amid protests that these groups have mounted.
Today, groups of health advocates filed a petition with the Supreme Court where they reiterated that Congress failed to allocate enough budget to the agency with funds coming from “sin tax” collection as what is stipulated in the law.
The petitioners said the budget for the agency this year should be about P69.81 billion coming from tax collections from tobacco and sweetened beverages.
In their petition, the groups also asked that the respondents be ordered to return unremitted collections for the past two years that should have been for premium contributions coming from indirect contributors of PhilHealth.
Among the petitioners were Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, Medical Action Group, Social Watch Philippines, former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez Tan, and other community leaders and labor groups.
Acting as respondents to the petition were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Congress, Department of Finance, Bureau of Treasury, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Health, PhilHealth, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.