GOCCs remit P160.6 billion to Treasury for pandemic response

MANILA, Philippines — Sixty-three state-run corporations have remitted P160.62 billion to the National Treasury as of mid-December  to support the government’s pandemic response efforts, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

According to the DOF, P133.5 billion of the total amount remitted from Jan.1 to Dec. 15 came in the form of cash dividends.

This came from 55 government-owned and-controlled corporations (GOCCs), which are mandated under Republic Act 7657 or the Dividends Law to transfer at least 50 percent of their net earnings to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

The remaining P27.12 billion accounted for unutilized subsidies, payment of guarantee fees, national government advances and other forms of remittances, the DOF said.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the P133.5 billion dividends reported so far was already almost double the full-year collections in 2019 amounting to P69.2 billion.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) emerged as the largest contributor, remitting P40.53 billion in dividends this year.

It was followed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with P17.98 billion and P17 billion worth of dividends, respectively.

Also topping the list were the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority with P12 billion, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines with P6 billion, Manila International Airport Authority with P6 billion, Philippine Ports Authority with P5.05 billion, Philippine National Oil Company with P5 billion, Philippine Reclamation Authority with P4.4 billion, and National Power Corp. with P4 billion.

Other GOCCs which remitted dividends during the period were the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (P2.27 billion), PNOC Exploration Corp. (P2 billion), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (P2 billion), Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P1.17 billion), and Clark Development Corp. (P1.13 billion).

Some 40 other state-run firms also handed over dividends to the National Treasury during the period.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Laws, the President was authorized “to allocate cash, funds, investments, including unutilized or unreleased subsidies and transfers, held by any GOCC or any national government agency in order to address the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This allowed the government to raise much-needed funds for the implementation of its COVID-19-related programs.

According to data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government has already released P500.7 billion in allotments for pandemic response as of Dec. 19.