Gov't-owned firms remit P160.62B to Treasury —DOF

Government-owned  or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) remitted a total of P160.62 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) as of December 15, 2020, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a statement, the DOF said the GOCCs’ remittances will help fund the government’s continuing efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 and provide economic relief to pandemic-hit businesses and individuals.

Of the P160.62-billion remitted to the Treasury, P133.50 billion represents the cash dividends from 55 GOCCs as mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 7656 or the Dividends Law.

The RA 7656 requires GOCCs to remit at least 50% of their net earnings to the National Government (NG).

The remaining P27.12 billion are in the form of returned unutilized subsidies, payment of guarantee fees and national government advances, and other forms of remittances.

DOF-Corporate Affairs Group’s (CAG) Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the amount of P133.50 billion in dividend contributions of GOCCs is already almost double the actual full-year collections for 2019 of P69.2-billion.

The DOF said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) topped the list of GOCCS with the highest dividend contributions, with P40.53-billion worth of remittances.

It was followed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) with P17.98 billion and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) with P17 billion. 

The other dividend contributors in the top 10 are the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), with P12 billion; Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), P6 billion; Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), P 6billion; Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), P5.05 billion; Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), P5 billion; Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRecA), P4.4 billion; and National Power Corp. (NPC), P4 billion. 

Other GOCCs that remitted dividends of more than P1 billion to the Treasury are the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) with P2.27 billion; PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) with P2 billion; Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) with P2 billion; Bases Conversion and Development Authority with P1.17 billion; and Clark Development Corp. (CDC) with P1.13 billion. 

The Philippine Sugar Corporation (Philsucor) contributed dividends of P875 million; National Development Company (NDC) remitted P720 million; and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) accounted for P659.55 million.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) contributed P630.19 million; Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) accounted for P544.65 million; Cebu Port Authority (CPA) remitted P500 million; and Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) contributed P500 million.

The National Home Mortgage Finance Corp (NHMFC) remitted P359.96 million; Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), P358.50 million; Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), P324.11 million;  Philippine Retirement Authority (PRetA), P216.37 million; Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA), P160 million; Clark International Airport Corp.  (CIAC), P140.01 million; APO Production Unit, Inc. (APUI),  P111.70 million; Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC), P109.63 million; National Electrification Administration (NEA), P85.72 million; Philippine Postal Corp. (PPC), P80.35 million; Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), P71.46 million; Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), P69.95 million; Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), P62.90 million; LBP Insurance Brokerage, Inc.  (LIBI), P62.77 million; and Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), P53.93 million.

GOCCs that also remitted dividends include the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), LBP Resources and Development Corp. (LBRDC); LBP Leasing and Finance Corp. (LBP-LC), Human Settlements Development Corp. (HSDC), Small Business Corp. (SBC), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), DBP Leasing Corp. (DBP-LC), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), National Housing Authority (NHA), Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPFI), Batangas Land Co. Inc.  (BLCI), Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC), Kamayan Realty Corporation, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Auth (APECO), DBP Data Center Inc. (DDCI), Alabang Sto. Tomas Development Inc. (ASTDI), NDC Philippine Infrastructure Corporation, and the Pinagkaisa Realty Corporation (PRC). —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News