Roxas urges strict audit on all GOCCs, GFIs

Senator Manuel Roxas  called yesterday for the strict audit performance of government financial institutions (GFIs) and other government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) in view of the huge tax subsidies given to them.

Roxas said he wants to know why subsidies given to government corporations have drastically increased, breaking the full-year target, despite shortfalls in tax collections.

“Our tax collection is weak, our people are hungry and in dire need of better schools and public hospitals, yet we continue to double subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations,” Roxas said.

He made this observation in light of news that subsidies provided to GFIs and GOCCs from January to June have breached the limit set for the whole year.

Roxas cited data from the Bureau of the Treasury which showed  that subsidies for the first half of the year amounted to P10.58 billion, more than double the government’s full-year program of P4.89 billion, and much larger than the P6.82 billion spent during the same period last year. Total government spending for the same period amounted to P551.3 billion.

“Even as we’re hard-pressed to generate revenues to finance the government’s development programs, spending for subsidies has been piling up,” he said.

He said the National Government seems to be contradicting its policy of more fiscal autonomy and corporate independence to GOCCs and GFIs. He urged the administration to audit the performance of those running the GOCCs and GFIs, especially the agencies costing the government the most.

Roxas said the Department of Finance should provide a running account of government subsidies to each GOCC. “How much are we spending to keep these government corporations afloat? The people have a right to know where their hard-earned sacrifices go to,” he stressed.

Total tax revenues from January to June amounted to P431.8 billion, which is 10 percent below the mid-year target. The BIR collected P334.7 billion in the first half, lower than the P373.3-billion target for the period. The BOC collected P92.2 billion from January to June, falling short of its P105.3 billion target for the period.

Apparently, in reaction to this dismal tax collection performance, the DoF announced that it would seek the privatization of more government assets, increasing the target to P55.2 billion from P25.7 billion.