MANILA, Philippines — Subsidies received by government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) dipped more than 17 percent to P5.21 billion in October due to a decline in funding support for non-financial GOCCs.
According to the Bureau of the Treasury, October subsidies decreased from P6.31 billion a year ago as major non-financial government corporations recorded an over 32 percent drop in their take-up to P3.67 billion.
On the other hand, subsidies released to other government corporations increased 52 percent to P1.37 billion from P900 million, while government financial institutions received P172 million in subsidies from zero last year.
Among major non-financial government corporations, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) took the largest share at P2.4 billion, while the National Housing Authority (NHA) came in next with P1.1 billion. The Light Rail Transit Authority and the Philippine National Railways received P85 million and P82 million, respectively.
For other government corporations, the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority obtained the largest subsidy at P319 million. The Philippine Heart Center came second with P147 million, while the Philippine Postal Corp. secured P135 million.
Likewise, the government issued subsidies to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines worth P107 million and P100 million, respectively.
For a second consecutive month, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the largest recipient of subsidies, received no funding support from the government.
The Treasury said subsidies given to GOCCs slipped more than eight percent to P151.08 billion in the 10 months to October, from P165.07 billion a year earlier.
Subsidies released to major non-financial government corporations dipped 19 percent to P56.39 billion, as to other government corporations slid one percent to P93.7 billion. On the contrary, funding support for government financial institutions doubled to P996 million.
By agency, PhilHealth took the largest subsidy at P76.06 billion, as the pandemic forced the state-run insurer to prop up its support for members. The NIA and the NHA posted the next largest subsidies at P30.21 billion and P15.93 billion, respectively.
Although GOCCs generate revenues to finance their daily operations, they request for subsidies to bankroll their programs and projects which their income can no longer pay for.
Subsidies grew by around 14 percent to a record P229.02 billion last year, from P201.52 billion in 2019, on the increase in funding requirement of GOCCs to cover their pandemic needs.