MANILA, Philippines — The national government extended P26.7 billion in subsidies to state-owned corporations in the first half of the year, with the bulk going to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
According to the latest cash operations report of the BTr, budgetary support to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) dropped by 61 percent to P26.7 billion in the first six months of the year from P67.74 billion in the same period last year.
For the month of June, alone, subsidies reached P7.04 billion, also 52.3 percent below the P14.75 billion recorded in the same month in 2018.
The national government provides subsidies to state-owned firms to cover their funds for programs and projects, as well as operational expenses.
Bulk or P16.01 billion of the total subsidies went to the NIA, which implements irrigation projects all over the country and provides free irrigation to small scale farmers.
This was followed by the National Food Authority (NFA), which received P3.4 billion, in support of its mandate to maintain emergency rice buffer stocks.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHIC) was given P1.45 billion in budgetary support.
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) also received P976 million in subsidies, while the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) and Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) accepted P644 million and P514 million, respectively.
The Philippine Children’s Medical Center was granted P500 million, followed by the Philippine Health Center with P486 million, National Kidney and Transplant Institute with P300 million, Philippine National Railways with P296 million, Philippine Rice Research Center with P294 million, National Power Corp. with P273 million, Small Business Corp. with P250 million, and National Electrification Administration with P213 million.
About 19 other GOCCs were also given subsidies amounting to less than P200 each during the period.
Subsidies to GOCCs form part of the national government’s expenditures.
In 2018, government subsidies to GOCCs amounted to P136.652 billion, 4.2 percent up from the end-2017 level of P131.08 billion in 2017. This was, however, lower than the P162.55 billion subsidies programmed for the whole year.
GOCC subsidies are projected to increase to P187.08 billion this year, based on the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing of the Department of Budget and Management.