THE Supreme Court (SC) has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the transfer of unused funds from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to the national treasury.

The SC said the en banc granted petitions filed by 1Sambayan, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel and Bayan Muna seeking to prevent the return of excess reserve funds of government-owned and controlled corporations to the national treasury to finance unscheduled credits.

“The court issued a temporary restraining order to prohibit the further transfer of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury,” it said in a statement.

“In the case of 1Sambayan, the court requested defendants to file their comments on the petition and request for TRO and/or writ of preliminary injunction within a non-extendable period of 10 days from receipt of notice “, he adds.

In April, the Department of Finance ordered PhilHealth to remit P89.9 billion in excess funds under the unscheduled appropriations of Republic Act 11975, or the General Appropriations Act of 2024.

This allows surplus funds from state-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to be returned to national coffers.

So far, 20 billion pesos have been transferred to the National Treasury, 10 billion pesos each on May 10 and August 21.

The third tranche, amounting to P30 billion, was transferred in October, while the rest is expected to be transferred by November.

SC spokesperson lawyer Camille Ting said the order no longer covers funds already transferred.

Several lawmakers questioned the legality of the fund transfer, emphasizing that it should be used to expand health coverage for its clients.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go demanded an explanation on PhilHealth’s surplus funds, highlighting the difficulties of public health insurance members in paying their hospitalization and medical expenses. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)