Subsidies to GOCCs, GFIs down to P729 M in September

MANILA, Philippines - Subsidies to government agencies and corporations plunged 75.4 percent to P729 million in September from P2.965 billion last year. For the first three quarters, subsidies amounted to P55.8 billion, down 10.27 percent from P62.208 billion in the same period a year ago. Subsidies are credit granted to GOCCs and GFIs to cover for their financing needs during the entire fiscal year. They form part of the national government’s expenditures. In turn, GOCCs and GFIs annually remit part of their operating proceeds to national coffers that go into government revenues. In September, there were 14 GOCCs that received subsidies. Among the agencies and the amount they received were National Irrigation Administration (P271 million), Social Housing Finance Corp. (P188 million), Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. (P50 million), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P43 million), Cultural Center of the Philippines (P34 million), Philippine Heart Center (P32 million), and International Trade Expositions and Missions (P26 million). Also granted were the Philippine National Railways (P25 million), Philippine Institute for Development Studies (P20 million), Lung Center of the Philippines (P17 million), Philippine Television Network Inc. (P8 million), Philippine Center for Economic Development (P7 million), Southern Philippines Development Authority (P4 million) and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P4 million). In his 2011 State of the Nation Address, President Aquino himself castigated GOCCs for underperforming while continuously receiving money from state coffers, particularly to fund huge bonuses to executives. This led to the passage of RA 10149 or GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which established the Governance Commission on GOCCs as the primary overseer of GOCC and GFI operations. However since 2010, subsidies have still consistently gone up, except in 2012 when the GOCC law was enacted.//