Lawyers, Doctors & Health Advocates File Complaints vs. Executive Sec. Ralph Recto, Former PhilHealth Pres. Emmanuel Ledesma
RALPH RECTO – The Executive Secretary is faced with graft, plunder, and technical malversation complaints over the P60 billion PhilHealth funds transfer to the national treasury.
Before he was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the executive secretary, Recto was the chief of the Department of Finance. He replaced former E.S. Lucas Bersamin in the position after Bersamin was tagged in the flood control mess.
According to former Executive Sec. Lucas Bersamin, he has allegedly not resigned when the Palace announced his resignation. His “resignation” came after former House Budget Appropriations Committee chairman Zaldy Co tagged him in the flood control scam.
Zaldy Co also tagged the President and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez to the flood control issue. Then, newly-appointed Executive Sec. Ralph Recto expressed his belief that Marcos Jr. is too kind to be involved in the corruption in the government. According to him, the President is “too focused” in his work.
Recently, a group of lawyers, doctors, and health advocates filed complaints against Executive Sec. Ralph Recto and former Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president and chief-executive-officer Emmanuel Ledesma before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the complainants accused Executive Sec. Ralph Recto and former PhilHealth Pres. Emmanuel Ledesma of graft, plunder, and technical malversation over the P60 billion fund transfer from the state health insurer to the national treasury when Recto was the Finance Secretary.
“This involves public funds, and they have the power over these funds. And these funds were utilized not for the purpose for which they were appropriated. And sinabi nga sa Supreme Court decision that here, there is an action by the secretary of finance that is void because it violates the existing laws or it is tantamount to amendment of existing laws,” Rodel Taton, one of the complainants, said.
Based on the report, the complainants also filed administrative complaint against Recto and Ledesma over the alleged grave misconduct on the transfer of the P60-billion PhilHealth funds. Previously, in a unanimous decision dated December 3, 2025, the Supreme Court declared the fund transfer as “void” “for having been issued and implemented with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction”.
According to Taton, the ruling of the high court allegedly signals that the issue should be brought to the Office of the Ombudsman. In the complaint, the complainants argued that the law is clear that a certain part of PhilHealth’s Reserve Funds that are not needed to meet its expenditures shall be placed in short-term investments that bear interest.
Amid the flood control mess in the Philippines now, Executive Sec. Ralph Recto recently broke his silence on the rumored Marcos Jr. Cabinet shakeup.