GOCCs remit record dividends in 2018

The Department of Finance (DOF) reported that government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) remitted record dividends last year owing to their “fiscal discipline.”

In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III described the 140.17-billion remittance from stateowned firms in 2018 as “unprecedented.”

According to the finance chief, the total dividend remittance last year was the highest amount ever collected since the law requiring state companies to hand over 50 percent of their annual net earnings to the national government was enacted in 1994.

In 2018, the national government received 140.17 billion in dividends from GOCCs, up by 32 percent from 130.46 billion in the previous year.

The DOF said that a total of 55 GOCCs remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury (BOT) as of December 14 last year. The cash dividend collections comprised 15.72 percent of the emerging total non-tax revenues of the government.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. topped the list among the GOCCs last year after it remitted a total of 18.844 billion to the state coffers.

Among the other top dividend contributors were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (16.2 billion); Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (13.6 billion); Philippine Ports Authority (13.1 billion); Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (12.6 billion); Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (12.5 billion); Manila International Airport Authority (12.2 billion); and the National Power Corp. (11.4 billion).

The other GOCCs remitted less than 11 billion to the BOT last year.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, meanwhile, said Land Bank of the Philippines was allowed to waive its dividend contributions of 17.82 billion to boost its capital requirements. But even without Land Bank, 140.17 billion still represents the highest amount ever collected from state-owned and -controlled firms since the GOCC Dividends Law was implemented 24 years ago.

Covering the period from July 2016 to December 2018, the total cash dividend collections under the Duterte administration now