The government should mobilize unused and idle funds to finance priority government health, education and infrastructure programs for the urgent needs of 115 million Filipinos, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said Tuesday.
Recto likened the mobilization of these idle funds to deploying idle police officers to crime-ridden areas. “If there’s a lot of crime on the streets and there are police officers sleeping, for example, at the general headquarters, shouldn’t we deploy those sleeping police to the streets where there’s crime?” he said.
He mentioned the case of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), saying its excess funds could be better utilized to address the urgent needs of 115 million Filipinos.
“If there’s money just sitting there, not being used for pressing needs like education, health, infrastructure and aid to our citizens, we should use it fully,” Recto said.
While acknowledging concerns about using PhilHealth’s funds, Recto emphasized the government’s responsibility to manage its resources effectively to avoid excessive borrowing. He noted that the government spends P15.8 billion daily, but only collects P11.8 billion, requiring it to borrow P4 billion each day.
“We listen to everyone, including medical practitioners, those who oppose this, and Congress,” Recto said. “We listen to all because that’s what democracy is about.”
