CAAP remits P21-B in dividends under Duterte administration
MANILA – The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) remains steady in its strong fiscal performance after remitting more than PHP21 billion in dividends to the National Treasury from 2016 to 2020.
For the same period, CAAP, an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), remitted almost 20 times, eclipsing the PHP1.3 billion it remitted from 2008 to 2016.
This feat has solidified CAAP’s membership in the ‘Billionaires' Club,’an elite circle of governmentowned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) that have remitted billions of pesos in dividends to the national government.
Since 2016, CAAP, as ordered by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, has consistently remitted over billions of pesos in dividends year after year.
The whopping PHP21 billion in total remitted dividends is broken down as follows: PHP5.4 billion (2017), PHP6.2 billion (2018), PHP3.5 billion (2019), and PHP6 billion (2020). This is remarkably higher than the total dividends remitted in the past eight years before the Duterte administration took office in 2016.
P6B in dividends despite pandemic
For 2020 alone, CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco said the agency was able to remit a total of PHP6 billion in dividends despite the aviation industry being among the hardest-hit sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Year 2020 has been a rough year for the aviation sector, to say the least. With nations closing borders, airlines facing bankruptcy, to employees getting laid off – we can say that the industry has been on life support. But that did not hinder us from performing our obligations. While we are greatly challenged by a raging global crisis, we remain committed to practice accountability, transparency, and good governance as mandated by the good Secretary,” Sydiongco said in a news release on Sunday.
Early last year, Tugade directed all state-owned corporations of the DOTr, including CAAP, to remit in advance their respective dividends to support government spending measures amid the Covid-19 crisis and other essential government projects.
Meanwhile, Tugade commended the constant strong fiscal performance of CAAP as this will not only help generate resources for Covid-19 efforts and for other projects but will also set a benchmark beyond the term of the Duterte administration.
“Since 2016, CAAP demonstrated how excellent fiscal management should be done in the interest of the public. Now, whoever will take over the agency when we step down in 2022, I am sure that the achievements reached by CAAP, under the leadership of Director General Jim Sydiongco, will be the standard. CAAP has set the bar high,” Tugade sai d.