Philippines services
At the September 24, 2026 House hearing on the 2027 budgets of the Department of Health and PhilHealth, budget sponsor Rep. Albert Garcia announced that a funded provision of Republic Act 11861, the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act, is now being…
At the September 24, 2026 House hearing on the 2027 budgets of the Department of Health and PhilHealth, budget sponsor Rep. Albert Garcia announced that a funded provision of Republic Act 11861, the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act, is now being implemented.
The national government will pay the PhilHealth premium share of employed solo parents. Once the corresponding circular takes effect, employers stop deducting that share from an affected employee’s pay.
Rep. Bernadette Herrera said during the same hearing that the implementing circular was being signed and would take effect that day. As of this writing, PhilHealth has not yet published that circular on its official circulars list.
We are covering this now because payroll teams need time to prepare. The circular number and the exact effectivity date are still pending confirmation. We flag both below and will update this post once the circular is public.
Under the current PhilHealth contribution structure, formal sector employees pay 5% of their monthly basic salary. This splits evenly: 2.5% withheld from the employee’s pay and 2.5% remitted by the employer, subject to a floor of ₱10,000 and a ceiling of ₱100,000 in monthly basic salary.
| Element | Before | After (per the announcement) |
|---|---|---|
| Employee share (2.5%) | Deducted from pay every payroll period | Paid by the national government. No longer deducted, once the circular takes effect |
| Employer share (2.5%) | Remitted by the employer as usual | Unchanged. Employer continues remitting 2.5% based on the employee’s basic pay, same as before |
| Who qualifies | – | Employed solo parents, public and private sector, with a valid Solo Parent ID under RA 11861 |
| Who doesn’t qualify | – | Employees without a current, valid Solo Parent ID |
Qualifying works through HR, not through PhilHealth directly.
Solo parents have had automatic PhilHealth coverage since PhilHealth Circular No. 2024-0020 in September 2024. What changes now is the funding source for the employee’s share of the premium.
This reclassification is what moves the employee’s premium share off payroll. It follows the same Indirect Contributor registration that PhilHealth Circular No. 2024-0020 already set up for solo parents.
The employer share stays the same through this process. It’s still computed on the employee’s basic pay, the same way it was before.
RA 11861 already promised that the national government would cover solo parent premiums. PC 2024-0020 implemented automatic coverage in 2024 but kept the employee share on payroll.
The reason: the Universal Health Care Act ties premium funding to what Congress appropriates in the annual General Appropriations Act. That funding wasn’t yet in place.
The September 24 hearing addressed the 2027 GAA. Funding for the government-paid share is coming through that budget process, which is why the change is being implemented through a circular.
If your business employs solo parents, this is a small payroll master-data update.
Once the circular is live, update payslips so the affected employees’ PhilHealth line reflects the new treatment. Adjust remittance reporting through PhilHealth’s Electronic Premium Remittance System, in whatever format the circular specifies.
There’s also a smaller effect worth knowing. Mandatory PhilHealth premiums are excluded from taxable compensation, so removing the employee’s deduction slightly raises that employee’s taxable pay. This can move their withholding tax computation, so affected employees may see a small increase in withholding once the change applies.
For background on how PhilHealth, SSS, and Pag-IBIG contributions work together in payroll, see our government contributions guide.
One more point worth flagging early. Solo parent status is sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act. If you collect Solo Parent ID copies to apply this change, treat them with the same consent and access controls you’d use for any other sensitive employee record.
What’s still unresolved: whether deductions taken between September 24 and the circular’s actual effectivity date will be refunded, and the exact remittance reporting format employers will need to follow. We’ll update this section once PhilHealth confirms both.
A change like this looks minor on paper: one line item, one percentage.
In practice, it’s exactly the kind of update that causes payslip errors. A deduction keeps running after it should have stopped. A withholding recomputation gets missed for one employee out of two hundred. A remittance report doesn’t match what PhilHealth expects.
Small statutory changes slip through the cracks precisely because they look small.
We update payroll setups for changes like this as part of managing payroll for our clients. We also handle the remittance side, so reporting stays consistent with what regulators expect.
If you’d rather not track every Solo Parent ID renewal and recompute withholding by hand, our outsourced payroll services can take that off your plate. Get in touch with CloudCFO today.
Do I still pay the employer share for solo parent employees?
Yes. The employer share stays the same and is still computed on the employee’s basic pay. Only the employee’s share moves to government funding.
What proof do I need to keep on file?
A valid Solo Parent ID issued under RA 11861, which typically needs annual renewal. Keep a record of the ID and its expiry date, and treat the copy as sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act.
What happens if an employee’s Solo Parent ID expires?
Once an ID expires, the employee no longer meets the qualification until they renew it. Resume the regular employee share deduction until you have a current, valid ID on file again.
Will I need to refund deductions taken before the circular’s effectivity date?
This hasn’t been addressed publicly yet. We’ll update this section once PhilHealth’s circular specifies whether any period between the September 24 announcement and the circular’s actual effectivity is covered.
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Questions about how this affects your business? Our team replies within one business day.
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