Recto defends PhilHealth, PDIC fund impounding

MANILA, Philippines — Utilizing about P200 billion in excess funds of state-run corporations can help the economy attain a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of as much as 6.5 percent this year, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said yesterday.

Recto made the projection during a post-State of the Nation Address briefing yesterday to defend the Department of Finance’s directive to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) to remit unused subsidies amounting to a combined P200 billion.

PhilHealth is tasked to remit almost P90 billion while PDIC will return about P110 billion.

He clarified that of the P90 billion from PhilHealth, only P20 billion had been transferred and used to pay for the allowances of health care workers.

“We have a schedule for receiving those funds from PhilHealth and PDIC. It’s not a one-time big time [thing], that’s for the rest of the year,” Recto said.

DOF’s study also showed that tapping unused funds would result in a potential 0.8-percentage point increase in GDP and contribute roughly 600,000 jobs.