SUBSIDIES provided to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) rose 30.24% year on year in October, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
The Treasury said budgetary support to GOCCs totaled P11.97 billion in October, up from P9.19 billion a year earlier.
Month on month, GOCC subsidies declined 34.30% from P18.22 billion in September.
State-owned firms receive monthly subsidies from the National Government (NG) to support their daily operations if their revenue is insufficient.
The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) was the top recipient in October with P5.83 billion, followed by the National Food Authority with P3 billion and the National Housing Authority with P1.73 billion.
GOCCs that received at least P200 million in subsidies included the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P211 million), and the Philippine Heart Center (P168 million).
The National Kidney Transplant Institute (P133 million), the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (P133 million), and the Philippine Coconut Authority (P112 million) also received subsidies.
At least P50 million in subsidies were given to the Light Rail Transit Authority (P72 million), Lung Center of the Philippines (P70 million), the Philippine National Railways (P62 million), and the Tourism Promotions Board (P60 million).
The Development Academy of the Philippines and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority received subsidies of P57 million and P55 million, respectively.
State-owned corporations that received at least P20 million include the Philippine Rice Research Institute with P46 million, the Cultural Center of the Philippines with P38 million, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions with P38 million, and the National Dairy Authority with P21 million.
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies took in P21 million this month, and Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority received P20 million.
Other subsidy recipients were the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (P13 million), the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC)-13 (P12 million), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (P10 million), Credit Information Corp. (P5 million), and the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P3 million).
Other recipients were the Sugar Regulatory Administration (P10 million), the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (P9 million), the Southern Philippines Development Authority (P7 million), the Philippine Tax Academy (P5 million), the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone (P4 million) and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (P3 million).
Not receiving subsidies for the month were National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., the Social Housing Finance Corp., the Small Business Corp., the Local Water Utilities Administration, the National Electrification Administration, the National Power Corp., the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the Philippine Postal Corp., and the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
In the 10 months to October, subsidies amounted to P117,21 billion, down 19.89% from a year earlier.
The National Irrigation Administration took in P60.21 billion or 51.37% of the total, followed by PhilHealth at P9.60 billion and the PSALM at P8 billion.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said higher subsidies for GOCCs could be attributed to higher inflation since 2022, which increased their expenditures.
“Some profitable GOCCs were urged in recent months to remit more dividends to the National Government in an effort to mitigate additional new borrowing and in curb the growth in outstanding NG debt,” he said.
Outstanding debt rose 0.8% to P16.02 trillion at the end of October from P15.89 trillion a month earlier, the BTr said.
Zyza Nadine Suzara, executive director of think tank iLEAD said “the jump isn’t due to anything extraordinary.”
She added that the variability could be due to differences in the timing of releases since the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) releases the subsidies for some GOCCs depending on when they are requested.
“As for PhilHealth, their subsidies under the 2024 GAA (General Appropriations Act) might have been released earlier,” Ms. Suzara said.
Groups have sought to block the transfer of GOCC reserve funds beyond their dividend obligations, with the first P60 billion out of P89.9 billion remitted to the Treasury.
The Supreme Court delayed oral arguments on the fund transfers to Feb. 4 from Jan. 14. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
