PDIC studying return of P107-billion remittance after Supreme Court ruling

THE PHILIPPINE Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (PDIC) legal team is now reviewing whether it can get back the over P107 billion in funds it remitted to the government after the Supreme Court struck down the special provision under the 2024 budget that enabled the transfer.

“In light of the Supreme Court decision, the lawyers are going back and looking at these issues again and seeing whether the PDIC can get the money back. So, it’s under consideration,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor and PDIC Chair Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said on Tuesday.

In January 2025, the PDIC remitted P107.23 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury as “unrestricted retained earnings” under a special provision of the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and a circular from the Department of Finance (DoF).

Under the special provision, government-owned or -controlled corporations were authorized to return their excess reserve funds to the Treasury to finance unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) also remitted P60 billion in excess funds under the same policy.

However, the Supreme Court last month ruled that the GAA provision and DoF circular were void as both were carried out “with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.” The decision was for petitions specifically on the PhilHealth transfer.

Mr. Remolona said the PDIC only remitted the funds to the government after its lawyers confirmed that the law allowed the transfer.

“And then there was an analysis of how — is the buffer sufficient to cover deposits that would be lost? And analysis suggested that yes, it was,” he added. “In fact, the remaining buffer was enough for the PDIC to raise the [deposit insurance] threshold to P1 million from P500,000.”

Groups have been calling for the return of PDIC’s remittance, saying these funds are needed to protect depositors’ savings and ensure the stability of the banking system. — Katherine K. Chan