MANILA, Philippines – The 1Sambayan coalition urges Finance Secretary Frederick Go and the National Treasury to return P107.23 billion in “excess funds” to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).

The PDIC remitted these funds to the Treasury in January 2025 as part of a special provision tied to unprogrammed appropriations under the 2024 General Appropriations Act. This special provision was also used to authorize the transfer of P60 billion in “excess funds” from state health insurer PhilHealth. (READ: Supreme Court orders return of P60B to PhilHealth, bars further fund transfer)

The state deposit insurer said the funds were intended for several government projects such as the Metro Manila Subway and the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), a social aid program criticized for perpetuating political patronage.

1Sambayan pointed out that the Supreme Court already ruled that transfers made under the special provision as unconstitutional.

“By this ruling, Special Provision 1(d) and DOF Circular No. 003-2024 were stripped of any legal force. They cannot serve as authority to transfer the funds of any government-owned or controlled corporation to the National Treasury,” the coalition said.

Retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio, who is also the lead convener of 1Sambayan, earlier said some of the funds remitted by the PDIC were diverted to the construction of flood control projects.

Because of the transfer, the PDIC’s assets as of end-2024 dipped to P278 billion from P339.6 billion in 2023.

“The drop in net assets is primarily attributed to remittances to the Bureau of the Treasury aggregating P107.2 billion fund balance under the GAA and P10.7 billion dividends, P1.2 billion operating expenses and P300 million payment of insured deposits,” the agency wrote in its 2024 annual report.

Despite the transfer, PDIC’s president and chief executive officer Roberto Tan earlier assured depositors that its Deposit Insurance Fund is still enough to cover shocks in the banking system.

As the state’s deposit insurer, the PDIC guarantees clients they can receive up to P1 million per depositor per bank in the event of a bank closure. – Rappler.com