The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation received a major budget increase for 2026 after the bicameral conference committee approved a ₱16.5 billion adjustment to its funding, raising the agency’s total allocation to ₱129.7 billion.
Senator Win Gatchalian confirmed the increase during a bicameral meeting early Thursday morning, saying the additional funding was intended to cover deficiencies in PhilHealth’s earmarked revenues from syntaxes.
The bicam panel had initially approved a ₱103.2 billion budget for PhilHealth, but the additional ₱16.5 billion brought the total to ₱129.7 billion.
Gatchalian said the source of the additional funds would come from savings generated through changes in infrastructure costing.
“The funding source for this will be the generated savings from the updated revised CMPD Factor in the Department of Public Works and Highways,” Gatchalian said.
He earlier explained that under the proposed 2026 budget, PhilHealth’s earmarked allocation amounted to only ₱53.2 billion, an amount he said was insufficient to meet the agency’s funding requirements.
This shortfall prompted lawmakers to reallocate a portion of funds originally cut from the Department of Public Works and Highways budget. Of the ₱20.7 billion reduction imposed on DPWH, ₱16.5 billion will be redirected to PhilHealth to complete the more than ₱69 billion in funding that the agency is expected to receive.
The remaining ₱4.2 billion from the DPWH budget cut will be placed under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to be used as assistance for areas affected by typhoons and earthquakes.
The funding adjustment came as lawmakers continued to finalize contentious portions of the proposed 2026 national budget during bicameral deliberations.
