State subsidies drop by 27% in January

State subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) declined by more than a quarter in the first month of the year, data from the Bureau of the Treasury revealed.

Government financial assistance given to 16 state-owned companies amounted to 1922 million in January this year, down 27 percent compared with 11.26 billion in the same month last year.

According to the Treasury report, the largest recipient of government subsidy was the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with 1426 million, representing 46.2 percent of the total disbursements.

NIA was followed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., commonly known as PhilHealth, with 1119 million, along with Philippine Children Medical Center (178 million), Philippine Heart Center (172 million), and Philippine Rice Research Institute (160 million).

Other recipient of state subsidies were National Kidney and Transplant Institute (149 million), Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (132 million), Cultural Center of the Philippines (121 million), and Lung Center of the Philippines (120 million).

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (111 million), Light Rail Transit Authority (16 million), People's Television Network (16 million), Philippine Coconut Authority (15 million), and Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (15 million) also received subsidies.

Lastly, the Southern Philippines Development Authority and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone got 14 million each from the national government in January this year.

For 2018, the national government earmarked a record 1162.55 billion in financial aid for GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs), up by 24 percent compared with the projected 1131.09-billion disbursements last year.

The increase in attributed to the government’s non-recurring expenses on the conditional cash-transfer (CCT) program being facilitated by the Land Bank of the Philippines, which aims to support Filipino households that will be affected by the proposed tax reform package.

Aside from the CCT, the government has also tapped the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to help in funding the planned public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization.

The Land Bank and DBP are traditionally non-recipient of monetary aid from the national government as these two state-owned lenders are members of the so-called “Billionaires’ Club,” an elite class of GOCCs that declare 11 billion or more in dividends annually.

The budget department is allocating 125.62 billion in subsidies for Land Bank this year and another 11.13 billion for the DBP.