The Supreme Court’s order directing the government to return the ₱60 billion in PhilHealth funds improperly transferred to the National Treasury should have been a resounding triumph for accountability. Instead, Malacañang’s response—that the money will be “restored” through the 2026 national budget—turns that supposed victory into a bitter insult. The funds may indeed be returned to PhilHealth, but the burden once again falls on the very people who were robbed in the first place. What kind of justice is that?
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David spoke for millions of frustrated Filipinos when he warned that the ₱60 billion must not merely “replenish” what was diverted. This is not a technical accounting issue. It is a moral and political disgrace. Money intended for healthcare—for the sick, the poor, and the vulnerable—was taken from PhilHealth through an improper realignment approved by officials who knew exactly what they were doing. For the Palace to now claim compliance by re-inserting the same amount into next year’s budget is an evasion of responsibility dressed up as restitution.
Let us call this what it is: a scheme where the State, caught mishandling public funds, now proposes to “correct” the wrongdoing by charging the correction back to the taxpayers. As Cardinal David bluntly put it, “We want the money returned—not by the people who were robbed, but by the people who robbed them.” There is no version of justice where the victims are forced to shoulder the cost of the crime while the perpetrators walk away untouched, unnamed, and unpunished.
The government cannot hide behind the technicality of budgetary procedure. Until the officials who orchestrated, approved, or benefited from this questionable transfer are made to answer for it—through investigations, sanctions, and prosecutions—this administration cannot claim transparency or integrity. An immediately executory Supreme Court ruling means little if accountability remains optional for those in power.
This issue is bigger than ₱60 billion. It is about a government that continues to treat public funds as expendable, public outrage as manageable, and public trust as irrelevant. When the State fails, the people suffer. But when the State steals, and still the people must pay—that is not merely misgovernance. It is betrayal.
