Healthcare, housing push GOCC subsidies up 75%

MANILA, Philippines - Subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) jumped 75.5 percent in the first eight months of the year, most of which went to healthcare, housing, rice procurement and power.

Data from the Department of Finance showed that the national government spent P59.24 billion in subsidies from January to August this year, up from the P33.75 billion disbursed in the same period a year ago.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) got the biggest financial support at P35.6 billion or 60 percent of the total subsidies granted in the eight months ending August.

The Aquino administration’s goal is to provide accessibility of good-quality healthcare services for all Filipinos, mainly through health insurance.

The National Housing Authority received the second biggest amount of subsidy at P8.39 billion as the government continued its relocation program for informal settlers living in disaster-prone areas, particularly near waterways in Metro Manila.

The third biggest beneficiary was the National Food Authority which received P4.25 billion in financial aid to beef up the country’s rice buffer stock.

The NFA is tasked with supporting rice farmers by buying their harvest at a premium while selling the staple to consumers at a discount.

The state grains agency earlier earmarked a budget of P10.3 billion for delivery of rice imports from September to November.

Aside from the financial support, the government is also subsidizing NFA’s rice imports through exemption from duties and taxes.

The two other agencies that completed the top five recipients of subsidies were the National Electrification Administration which received P3.5 billion, and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P2.33 billion).

The government aims to provide electricity to remote areas in the country that are still without access to power.

In August alone, subsidies reached P3.07 billion, 71.5 percent higher than the P1.79 billion recorded in the same month a year ago.

The surge in subsidies granted to GOCCs partly drove the increase in overall expenditures in August.