THE subsidy provided by the national government for the month of April amounted to P5.115 billion, increasing by 32 percent, with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) receiving the bulk of the funds, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
Based on BTr data, the government provided subsidies amounting to P5.115 billion, 32 percent higher than the P3.874 billion in April 2018.
Broken down, the National Irrigation Administration received the bulk of the subsidy amounting to P3.797 billion, followed by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. at P644 million, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) with P147 million and the National Dairy Authority with P106 million.
Other government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) who received subsidy for the month include: the Philippine Heart Center with P96 million, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center with P67 million, the Development Academy of the Philippines with P57 million, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute with P50 million, and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions with P46 million. The Cultural Center of the Philippines received P24 million, the Lung Center of the Philippines with P17 million, the Philippine Coconut Authority with P14 million, and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies with P11 million.
The Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care and the People’s Television Network Inc. received P6 million each. The Light Rail Transit Authority, the Credit Information Corp. and the Philippine Center for Economic Development each received P5 million. The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, the Southern Philippines Development Authority and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority received P4 million each.
A subsidy aims to help these GOCCs reduce expenses as it supports the growth of different sectors.
From January to April this year, the government has already provided subsidies amounting to P14.419 billion, contracting by 70.6 percent compared to the P49.162 billion recorded in the same four-month period in 2018.
The government had operated under a 2018 reenacted budget since January this year, as the two chambers of Congress got embroiled in a standoff in the passage of the P3.7-trillion cash-based budget bill for 2019.
President Duterte was only able to sign the 2019 budget bill on April 15.
