By Rhianna Ramos

On Thursday, December 18, lawmakers approved the reallocation of savings from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) after budget adjustments generated billions of pesos in excess funds.

The decision was announced by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the chair of the Senate finance panel, during the bicameral conference committee meeting on the disagreeing provisions of the proposed 2026 national budget held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

Furthermore, the bicameral panel identified around P20.7 billion in savings after revising DPWH adjustment factors for construction material costs, which lawmakers said were previously overstated.

This recalibration freed up funds for realignment to priority sectors, particularly public health.

Sen. Loren Legarda cited that P16.5 billion from the total savings will be transferred to PhilHealth, raising its proposed 2026 budget to P129.76 billion.

This will cover a shortfall under the Sin Tax Law that lawmakers repeatedly raised during the plenary deliberations to ensure the agency received its full mandated allocation.

She also emphasized that the reallocation was meant to ensure that it complies with existing law.

Meanwhile, Gatchalian added that the savings came from correcting inflated DPWH cost estimates, noting that revising the adjustment factors reduced the number of projects that could become unimplementable due to unrealistic pricing assumptions.

Lawmakers then stated that the fund realignment balances continued infrastructure development with the government’s obligation to ensure adequate and lawful financing for public health programs as deliberations on the 2026 national budget near its completion.