For retired justice Antonio Carpio, the PhilHealth and PDIC funds needs to be restored utilizing cash returned by these concerned within the flood management scandal
MANILA, Philippines – Funds from the Philippine Well being Insurance coverage Company (PhilHealth) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance coverage Company (PDIC) have been diverted towards the development of flood management initiatives, retired Supreme Courtroom senior affiliate justice Antonio Carpio mentioned.
Carpio defined {that a} provision within the 2024 Normal Appropriations Act (GAA) states that extra funds from government-owned or -controlled firms (GOCCs) shall be transferred to the Bureau of the Treasury to fund unprogrammed appropriations, which embrace flood management initiatives.
The retired justice mentioned such a provision was not included in every other GAA.
PhilHealth and PDIC, each GOCCs, remitted P60 billion and P107 billion, respectively, of their funds in compliance with the directive of the Division of Finance, which issued a round on how the availability have to be applied.
Calling the availability “unconstitutional,” Carpio mentioned PhilHealth and PDIC’s funds are belief funds that “can’t be used for every other function.”
He additionally famous that beneath the Structure, appropriations can’t be transferred. However the president, amongst different officers, “could, by regulation, be approved to enhance any merchandise within the normal appropriations regulation for his or her respective places of work from financial savings in different gadgets of their respective appropriations.”
“[In] Part 5 of the information guidelines, as soon as it’s transferred to the nationwide treasury, the certifications represent authority for DBM (Division of Finances and Administration) to launch the funds for the unprogrammed appropriation,” Carpio advised Rappler on Monday, December 1.
In 2024, unprogrammed appropriations launched for flood management initiatives reached P107 billion.
“It seems to be like talagang (actually) there was an intention to make use of these extra funds for flood management initiatives, and we all know what flood management initiatives imply, it’s actually leakage of funds,” mentioned Carpio.
The retired justice mentioned the mastermind of the scheme needs to be tracked down and public officers behind it needs to be held accountable.
“It is a clear case the place there was any person up there considering of get the cash kasi (as a result of) this is not going to occur in isolation, napaka-complicated ito (that is very sophisticated),” Carpio mentioned. “From the start, they supposed it this manner.”
“Nakakatakot itong taong ito. We must always search for this and uncover this particular person, and maintain him to account. He’s a genius however genius in stealing the folks’s cash kasi talagang could structure ‘yung kanyang ginawa. Hindi ito biglaan lang…. Alam niya ‘yung budgeting course of at saka releasing of funds,” the retired justice added.
(This mastermind is scary. We must always search for this and uncover this particular person, and maintain him to account. He’s a genius however a genius in stealing the folks’s cash as a result of there was structure concerned. This was not sudden. He has data of the budgeting course of and the releasing of funds.)
Getting again the funds
For Carpio, the PhilHealth and PDIC funds needs to be restored utilizing cash returned by these concerned within the flood management scandal.
He mentioned he reached out to Mamamayang Liberal Consultant Leila de Lima for a invoice on the fund restoration by restitution, or the act of returning unlawfully obtained authorities cash.
In September, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the return of the P60 billion to PhilHealth amid pending petitions on the legality of the state insurer’s fund switch to the treasury. The DBM then mentioned the fund can be restored by the 2026 nationwide price range.
Carpio argued: “If the reimbursement will come from the Normal Appropriations Act, ‘yung pera na ‘yan galing sa taxes ng tao. So, parang sinasabi nila, ‘Kayo ang mag-reimburse, kayong taxpayer ang mag-reimburse, hindi ‘yung nagnakaw ng pera.’”
(If the reimbursement will come from the Normal Appropriations Act, the cash will come from the folks’s taxes. It’s like they’re saying, “Taxpayers ought to reimburse the quantity, not those that stole from public coffers.”)
Dismissed Bulacan 1st District engineer Henry Alcantara, who was implicated within the flood management corruption, has surrendered P110 million to the federal government and pledged to return P190 million extra from the kickbacks he pocketed.
Former Division of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, in the meantime, dedicated to return P7 million. – Rappler.com
