November 21, 2025 | 12:00am
Ralph Recto is now Executive Secretary. As such, he heads the Cabinet. He will hold office in Malacañang beside the President’s.
Recto will be in position to whisper daily into the President’s ears. Among the issues will be the P60 billion he took from our PhilHealth in 2024 when he was Finance secretary.
Most likely, the admin won’t ever return it to us.
Recto misused half of our P60 billion to start the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges. His counsel admitted it to the Supreme Court.
Yet Korea already lent $56.6 million or P3.2 billion for the project. The admin misspent the loan for the Speaker’s vanity Charter Change. Also for flood works with 30-percent kickbacks.
Recto knew that all along. He was Deputy Speaker up to December 2023, when Congress enacted that crooked 2024 budget. He moved to the Executive as Finance chief the following month to implement it.
When the admin ran out of money, Recto scraped the coffers of government-administered funds like our PhilHealth. That P60 billion could have funded more medical procedures for PhilHealth members. It’s now in the pockets of crooked politicos, contractors, and DPWH officials.
President Bongbong Marcos knows it. It was among the issues that infuriated Filipinos to join nationwide protest demonstrations leading up to Sept. 21st, the 53rd anniversary of his father’s plundering martial rule.
On Sept. 20, BBM “ordered” the return of our P60 billion. That was to assuage people’s disgust with high corruption.
He claimed he’ll include it in the 2026 national budget. “That P60 billion will be returned to PhilHealth, not just to ease public fears but so we can use it to expand PhilHealth’s services,” he said.
But look closely at the 2026 National Expenditure Program he submitted to Congress. Our P60 billion is not there.
Frederick Go takes over as finance chief. As erstwhile presidential economic adviser, he lowered tariffs on imported rice supposedly to cheapen retail prices.
In so doing, however, he also slashed the subsidy for three million poor palay farmers. The buying price of palay dropped to half the usual.
USec Rolando Toledo is now Budget officer-in-charge. Expect him to carry on the policies of predecessor Amenah Pangandaman.
Go and Toledo will join PhilHealth’s board due to their positions, like Recto and Pangandaman. Expect them to give away our money to, of all things, road and bridge works.
Three other Cabinet members will stay in the PhilHealth board: Health Sec. Ted Herbosa as chairman, with Social Welfare Sec. Rex Gatchalian and Labor Sec. Benny Laguesma.
Herbosa spent the other half of our P60 billion for pandemic emergency pay of health workers, overdue since 2020.
The pandemic was a public health issue, not an individual health insurance expense. The Dept. of Health, not PhilHealth, should’ve paid for health workers’ back wages. Herbosa is facing three Ombudsman cases for fund anomalies.
That previous board proposed P74-billion subsidy for PhilHealth in 2025. But Congress diverted it again to flood works, for more kickbacks.
PhilHealth was left with zero. No complaint from the five original and two new members of the board. To think that their fiduciary duty as PhilHealth board members is to protect our interest.
We PhilHealth members and dependents consist of:
• 66 million direct contributors, P500 to P5,000 a month, based on income;
• 37 million indigent members whose indirect contributions should come from Pagcor, PCSO, and sin taxes.
But the Duterte and Marcos admins withheld the subsidies.
The government owes our PhilHealth P242.28 billion, including compounded interest, since 2019.
At present we members must first be hospitalized or undergo delicate procedures to benefit from our contributions. If it remits all funds earmarked by law to PhilHealth, we can enjoy other benefits like annual blood and lab works, ultrasound, x-ray, CT scan, MRI. Even basic tooth filling.
PhilHealth managers do not promote the e-Konsulta program. Under it, each member can consult a physician once a year courtesy of our insurance.
But management has allowed racketeers to mangle e-Konsulta. Millions of us members have been registered without our consent as consulting patients in faraway hospitals.
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