The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) regards the landmark unanimous ruling of the Supreme Court ordering the return of ₱60 billion in PhilHealth funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation as a wake-up call to urgently deliver universal health care for all.
“How much have ordinary workers already contributed to PhilHealth throughout their entire working lives? And how much more will generations of Filipino working families be required to pay for their premium contributions? The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that workers have every right to demand transparent, efficient, and wise use of their hard-earned contributions,” stated TUCP Party-list Representative and House Deputy Speaker Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza.
The Supreme Court further emphasized that while the State may pursue economic reforms, no policy can override the Constitution’s guarantee of affordable healthcare for all, especially for the poor and vulnerable.
“For Filipino workers and their families, getting sick is so expensive that it has become a personal, emotional, and financial disaster. Wages are not only stagnant but below the poverty threshold. Employment remains predominantly contractual and ‘no work, no pay’ while countless continue to be jobless. The Government, especially the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Health (DOH), must not anymore find ways and means to divert workers’ contributions treated as mere dormant excessive reserves. Instead, we must all fight tooth and nail to spend these tens of billions where they originally belong: strengthening hospitals, expanding coverage, lowering out-of-pocket costs, and delivering proactive and preventive healthcare,” underscored Mendoza.
Republic Act No. 7875 or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995 originally provided that the PhilHealth Board must include a representative of the labor sector. But Republic Act No. 11223, known as the Universal Health Care Act of 2013, reconstituted the PhilHealth Board to include direct contributors defined as “those who have the capacity to pay premiums, are gainfully employed and are bound by an employer-employee relationship.”
“It is the hard-earned contributions of the working class that sustain PhilHealth. Workers call for action that restores their faith in a healthcare system meant to protect and serve them with the quality and dignity that they demand and deserve, beginning with the appointment of a legitimate workers’ representative to the PhilHealth Board to ensure that the genuine interests of those whose hard-earned money funds PhilHealth are truly represented,” added Mendoza.
