The Department of Finance (DOF) said Monday it plans to tap billions of pesos in unused and idle funds held by government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to fund critical projects in healthcare, social services and infrastructure.

“We cannot afford to have excess money sleeping in our GOCCs while withholding the same funds from public investment. Hibernating funds can help the nation without harming government corporations. This way, the government does not have to inflict additional taxes, increase our debt, and put pressure on our deficit,” the DOF said in a statement.

It said unlocking these excess fund balances is a more prudent fiscal option than borrowing more or imposing taxes.

“The move does not affect the viability of participating corporations. It does not impair their delivery of services,” the DOF said, citing PhilHealth, left with a P500-billion benefit chest which could fund multiple-year claims.

“It is also worthy to note that remittances to fund urgent national projects do not come from their member contributions but from a fraction of billions in unutilized national government subsidies,” it said.

The DOF said the move complies with all laws, specifically the General Appropriations Act of 2024, which imposed appropriations in excess of what the executive branch has originally proposed.

It said that in the case of PhilHealth, the unused government subsidies are not part of its reserve funds, nor income that is being restricted by the Universal Health Care Act to be used by the national government as a general fund.

“The merit of this tack is best exemplified by the fact that PhilHealth and other GOCC remittances to the treasury are what enabled the DBM to release P27.5 billion to pay the 5.04 million claims of Covid pandemic era service allowances of frontliners,” the DOF said.

“The same care and diligence were exercised in calibrating the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.’s [PDIC] contribution to the revenue raising effort,” it said.

The DOF said these were made in observance of legal rail guards spelled out in legal opinions by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

It said the return of unused and excess funds was approved by the PhilHealth and PDIC’s respective boards.

The result promotes the common good, based on the list of recipients identified in the national budget.

Some of these are ongoing foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) such as the Metro Manila Subway Project, the North-South Commuter Railway System and the PNR South Long Haul Project.

Other FAPs are the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project and the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project.