GOCCs remit 58% more dividends

MANILA, Philippines — The amount of dividends remitted by government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) has significantly increased in the first nine months of the year due to more stringent monitoring of state firms, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

According to data from the DOF’s Corporate Affairs Group, state corporations remitted P34.15 billion in dividends as of end-September, 58 percent higher than the P21.62 billion collected in the same period last year.

The DOF said this also surpassed the agency’s full-year collection of P30.46 billion in 2017.

GOCCs are required to declare and remit at least half of their income as dividends to the national government, as provided under Republic Act 7656.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the increase in dividend remittances this year could be attributed to the efficient monitoring of GOCCs by the DOF-CAG, as well as by finance officials sitting on their respective boards.

Dominguez said the Department of Transportation (DOTr), under the leadership of Secretary Arthur Tugade, also helped ensure that GOCCs under the administrative supervision of the DOTr remitted their dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

According to the DOF-CAG, a total of 55 GOCCs remitted dividends to the Treasury from January to September 2018.

The largest dividend during the period came from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, with a total of P6.224 billion.

It was followed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas with P3.636 billion; Philippine Ports Authority, P3.103 billion; Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), P2.844 billion; and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., with P2.593 billion.

Other big contributors include the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office with P2.535 billion; Manila International Airport Authority, P2.25 billion; and the National Power Corp., with P1.41 billion, among others.

The DOF-CAG expressed confidence that the national government’s dividend collections would reach an all-time high of P40 billion this year.

“We have P34 billion now and we expect with the remittance of PDIC of P6 billion representing second installment on dividend in arrears, by December, dividend collection will hit P40 billion,” Finance assistant secretary Soledad Emilia Cruz said.

In 2017, dividends remitted by GOCCs to the National Treasury increased 9.8 percent to P30.46 billion from the previous year’s collection of P27.73 billion.

This was despite the exemption imposed on the Land Bank of the Philippines to allow the bank to improve its capitalization requirements. Had Landbank’s dividends been included, the DOF said total remittances would have reached P36.46 billion.