MANILA, Philippines – The government took P107.23 billion from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) in 2024, money that had formed part of the resources of the state corporation responsible for protecting bank depositors when banks fail.

Now, as the government prepares to replenish that fund, it’s setting aside only P57 billion in the proposed 2027 budget — and even that amount is not guaranteed to reach PDIC.

The proposed P57-billion restoration is lodged under Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA), meaning it will only be released if there are excess revenues or collections identified by the government. (READ: 1Sambayan urges DOF, Treasury to return P107B to PDIC)

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Monday, August 17, that restoring the entire P107.23 billion in one year would eat into limited fiscal space and could displace funding already programmed for other priorities.

That means the P57-billion figure appears to reflect how much the national government believes it can afford to return for now, rather than what PDIC actually needs.

During the opening hearing on the proposed 2027 budget, LPGMA Representative Allan Ty pressed economic managers on that point.

Finance Secretary Frederick Go confirmed that the Department of Finance itself had requested the original P107.23-billion remittance pursuant to a special provision of the 2024 budget. The PDIC board subsequently approved the transfer.

Go, who was not yet the finance secretary at the time, said his understanding was that the money came from the “unrestricted” portion of PDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund and had been considered excess to what the corporation needed to cover insured depositors in the event of bank failures. 

PDIC itself, however, has maintained that the depletion has not left it unable to insure bank deposits. PDIC president and CEO Roberto Tan said the corporation continued to meet its minimum targets despite the smaller capital base and was ensuring that the transfer would not impair its ability to cover both expected and unexpected bank failure, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

But when Ty asked whether returning just P57 billion was acceptable to PDIC, officials seemed a bit less sure.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Zeno Abenoja, asked because the Bangko Sentral governor chairs the PDIC board, said: “We will have to confer with PDIC. Although we are chair of the board, this is something that the PDIC is looking into.”

Ty then turned to Go, who sits as vice chairman on PDIC’s board.

“I think it’s a question that really should be asked of perhaps not us,” Go initially replied.

“Mr. Secretary, you sit [on] the board of PDIC,” Ty retorted.

Go then deferred to the DBM’s assessment of fiscal space, saying that if P57 billion was the figure the budget department arrived at, then “that’s the fiscal space that they can afford to return to the PDIC this year.”

DBM Secretary Kim Robert De Leon likewise told lawmakers that government could not necessarily restore the entire amount at once because the money would have to come from excess revenues. He said the Executive had contemplated restoring it in “at least two tranches” if the Supreme Court requires the government to return the funds.

In a press statement released after De Leon’s comment, DBM said the remaining P50.23 billion has no fixed timetable for restoration. Its treatment would depend on a final court ruling or legal directive, government finances, revenue performance, and succeeding national budgets.

ML party-list Representative Leila de Lima separately questioned why the P57 billion was placed in UA at all when its beneficiary and amount were already identified.

“Bakit po hindi ito nakalagay sa programmed appropriations na lang (Why wasn’t this placed in programmed appropriates instead)?” De Lima asked, while raising “very serious” constitutional questions over the use of unprogrammed funds.

De Leon said the P57 billion is merely a standby provision because, unlike in the PhilHealth case, there is currently no Supreme Court directive ordering the return of PDIC’s money. – Rappler.com