Marcos to DOH: Ensure continuous PhilHealth service

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday directed the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure the continuous delivery of services by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) even if the state-run insurer did not receive a subsidy in this year’s national budget.

“Make sure that services of PhilHealth remain unhampered… (The zero subsidy) should not affect the delivery of health care services,” Marcos told Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa during a meeting at Malacañang.

PhilHealth was initially allocated a P74-billion subsidy in the 2025 budget, but the bicameral conference committee scrapped the item, citing a P600-billion reserve fund that has not been spent.

Marcos supported the removal of the subsidy, saying the health insurer has sufficient funds for its operations even without subsidies.

Some sectors are worried that the zero subsidy for PhilHealth might affect its capability to implement its benefit packages and pay the premium contribution of vulnerable sectors.

The President earlier gave an assurance that the removal of the subsidy would not lead to fewer PhilHealth services.

He has also vowed to prioritize social services in the 2025 national budget and to focus on vital sectors like education, health, economic services, infrastructure and agriculture.

During the same meeting, Marcos called for a shift of the DOH’s focus from cure to prevention, saying “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound (of) cure.”

He also cited the importance of digitalizing the DOH to improve its efficiency and service delivery.

Meanwhile, Marcos said Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) programs should not be included in the unprogrammed appropriations for next year, as his administration seeks to address issues that hounded the 2025 national budget.

During a meeting with DSWD officials at Malacañang yesterday, the President pointed out that excluding the DSWD initiatives from unprogrammed appropriations would allow the needy to quickly benefit from them.

“DSWD programs should no longer (be) in the unprogrammed appropriation next year,” the President said.

“They should be among the programmed items so they can be beneficial immediately,” he added.

The meeting tackled the results of the agency’s budget review under the enacted

P6.326-trillion national budget for this year as compared to the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) proposed by the Executive branch.

Lawmakers reduced the DSWD budget by P10.85 billion from P226.67 billion in the NEP to P215.82 billion in the enacted appropriations law.

The DSWD is requesting P41.8 billion as additional funding from unprogrammed appropriations to cover the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) grants for the period from August to December 2025.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the government has a budget for the implementation of 4Ps in the first half, but needs to look for funding for its execution in the latter part of the year.