Government subsidies to GOCCs hit P3.7B in November

MANILA, Philippines - Subsidies given by the national government to state-owned agencies and corporations rose 38 percent to P3.707 billion in November last year from P2.685 billion in the same period in 2014, the Bureau of Treasury reported over the weekend.

From January to November last year, subsidies amounted to P66.01 billion, almost unchanged from P66.32 billion in the same period in 2014.

The government gives money to GOCCs and GFIs to support their operations and dues. These subsidies are recorded in the NG’s monthly balance sheet as part of expenditures.

In turn, these entities are required to report 50 percent of their annual earnings to government coffers as revenues. As of October, GOCC dividends hit a record-high of P29.609 billion.

For November, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) cornered the bulk of subsidies amounting to P2.255 billion.

Other agencies that received funding were the National Irrigation Administration (P720 million), Local Water Utilities Administration (P527 million), Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (P124 million), Philippine Rice Research Institute (P39 million), Philippine National Railways (P14 million), People’s Television Network Inc. (P13 million), Southern Philippines Development Authority (P4 million) and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (P2 million).

For the first 11 months, PhilHealth also received the highest subsidy with P34.871 billion, followed by NIA and the National Housing Authority with P8.301 billion and P4.414 billion, respectively.

GOCCs have figured prominently on President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address in 2011, where he castigated chosen executives for receiving large bonuses despite their agencies underperforming.

This led to the passage of RA 10149 or GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which established the Governance Commission on GOCCs as the primary overseer of GOCC and GFI operations.

GOCC subsidies form part of government expenditures, which totaled P1.992 trillion as of November.

From January to November, the budget deficit – which indicates spending has outstripped revenues – reached P46.545 billion, only around 16 percent of last year’s cap of P283.7 billion.