State subsidies accelerate in Q1
State subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) in the first quarter amounted to R45.29 billion, more than double the first three months in 2017, owing to health insurance benefits for indigent Filipinos, irrigation program, and the jeepney modernization project.
Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that government subsidies to staterun companies amounted to R45.29 billion in January to March this year, up by 130 percent compared with R19.66 billion in the same period last year.
Of the total subsidies, about 33.46 percent went to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., commonly known as PhilHealth, which is equivalent to R15.2 billion.
PhilHealth, which is mandated to provide adequate and affordable social health insurance coverage for all Filipinos, receives regular financial aid from the government to settle the insurance premiums for indigent individuals identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Another recipient of government financial support was the Land Bank of the Philippines, which received R12.3 billion in the first quarter, or 27.16 percent of the total subsidy disbursements of the treasury bureau.
The subsidy given to Land Bank will be used to fund the lender’s credit facility for a program that will help drivers and operators replace all 15 years old and above public utility jeepneys (PUJs) with modern public transport.
Meanwhile, the National Irrigation Administration cornered 18.41 percent of the total subsidies at end-March, amounting to R8.34 billion.
The monetary aid given to NIA will be used to fund the government’s free irrigation program.
In January last year, President Rodrigo R. Duterte stopped the NIA, an agency responsible for irrigation development in the country, from collecting the Irrigation Service Fee (ISF) from farmers.
Aside from the three GOCCs, the government also gave subsidies to the National Food Authority with R1.8 billion, National Development Co. with R1.5 billion, Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corp. with R1.48 billion and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority with R1.45 billion.
The National Electrification Administration (R653 million), Social Housing Finance Corp. (R612 million), Small Business Corp. (R442 million), National Power Corp. (R224 million), and the Philippine Children Medical Center (R222 million) also received finance support from the Treasury.
Other GOCCs include the Philippine Heart Center (R232 million), Philippine Rice Research Institute (R185 million), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (R147 million and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (R105 million).
In the first quarter, the Treasury also gave subsidies to the Light Rail Transit Authority, National Housing Authority, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions.
Also included in the list were Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Coconut Authority, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, and Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care.
Lastly, People's Television Network, Inc., Southern Philippines Development Authority, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority received subsidies from the national government in the first quarter of the year.
For 2018, the national government earmarked a record R162.55 billion in financial aid for GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs), up by 24 percent compared with the projected R131.09-billion disbursements last year.