GOCCs remit P40.18B to NG in 2018, highest ever

DIVIDENDS remitted by government-owned and -controlled corporations to state coffers in 2018 was the highest ever recorded since the enactment of the GOCC dividends law, with P40.178 billion in dividends being remitted last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) has reported.

The total cash dividend collections under the Duterte administration from July 2016 to December 2018, per the DOF

The DOF- Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) pointed out that the dividends remitted for 2018 by GOCCs represent a 32-percent jump from the P30.46 billion collected in 2017.

The DOF said in a statement on Sunday that the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) remitted an additional P6 billion on December 14 combined with the P34.17 billion collected from GOCCs in November.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko, who heads the DOF-CAG, said Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) was allowed to waive its dividend contributions of P7.82 billion to boost its capital requirements, which brought the total amount remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to only P40.178 billion.

The finance department added that if the LandBank was able to contribute P7.82 billion in 2018, the amount of GOCC dividends would have reached a total of P47.99 billion for the year. It was further pointed out that even without the dividends from LandBank, the P40.178 billion still represents the highest amount ever collected from GOCCs since the GOCC dividends law was implemented 24 years ago.

“This is unprecedented. The record amount demonstrates the effectivity of Undersecretary Tionko and her team in instilling fiscal discipline among the GOCCs since the Duterte administration took over in 2016,” said Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.

Under Republic Act 7656 or the GOCC Dividends Law of 1994, staterun firms are instructed to remit 50 percent of their income earned in each fiscal year to the BTr.

A total of 55 GOCCs remitted dividends to the BTr as of December 14, 2018, comprising 15.72 percent of the emerging total nontax revenues of the government.

Among the top dividend contributors, apart from the PDIC, were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines with P6.224 billion; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas with P3.637 billion; Philippine Ports Authority with P3.103 billion; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with P2.593 billion; the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office with P2.535 billion; Manila International Airport Authority with P2.251 billion; and the National Power Corp. with P1.410 billion.

The DOF explained that covering the period from July 2016 to December 2018, the total cash dividend collections under the Duterte administration now amount to P70.9 billion.