Senator Pia S. Cayetano voted yes with reservations on the 2026 General Appropriations Act, warning that billions in legally earmarked PhilHealth funds from sin taxes, PCSO, and PAGCOR remain withheld, diverted, or unaccounted for. She said she is “not happy with the failure to provide the earmarked funds that should have been delivered to PhilHealth,” citing the P16.52-billion sin tax shortfall for 2026 as a clear legal violation: “This is not a matter of an unfunded law. This is earmarked. So saan napunta yun?” She added that withholding the full P69.78-billion allocation means “we are allowing the P16.52 billion deficit to be parked somewhere else… That is not allowed.”
She also noted that from 2019 to 2025, “PhilHealth’s share is P106.95 billion. Zero ang na-remit,” and that the amounts listed in the 2023 and 2024 GAA were “never released,” reflecting “a concerted effort to disregard this law that we passed.”
Cayetano urged strong action in the bicam, stressing that “this amount has no right to be sitting in another agency,” and cautioned that achieving Zero Balance Billing, especially in LGU hospitals, depends on releasing these funds because “dapat makagamit din sila ng PhilHealth zero balance billing. Kasi may pondo naman na hindi nire-release.”
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