SUBSIDIES provided to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) fell 49.48% year on year in September, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.
Budgetary support provided to state-run firms amounted to P9.2 billion in September.
Month on month, GOCC subsidies rose 14.78%.
State-owned firms receive monthly subsidies from the National Government to support their daily operations if their revenue is insufficient.
In September, the National Food Authority (NFA) topped the subsidy list with P3.43 billion or 37.29% of the total.
This was followed by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) which received P3.23 billion, and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) with P955 million.
Other GOCCs on the subsidy list were the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (P443 million), the Philippine Heart Center (P184 million), the Philippine Coconut Authority (P134 million), the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (P124 million), and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P116 million).
GOCCs obtaining subsidies of less than P100 million were the Cultural Center of the Philippines (P91 million), the Light Rail Transit Authority (P74 million), the Philippine National Railways (P63 million), the Lung Center of the Philippines (P59 million), the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp.-13 (P46 million) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (P46 million).
Also receiving subsidies were the Development Academy of the Philippines (P40 million), the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (P28 million), the National Dairy Authority (P25 million), the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (P20 million), the People’s Television Network, Inc. (P18 million), the Sugar Regulatory Administration (P17 million), and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (P14 million).
GOCCs with subsidies amounting to P10 million or less were the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (P10 million), the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (P8 million), the Southern Philippines Development Authority (P7 million), the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (P6 million), the Philippine Tax Academy (P5 million), the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P5 million), and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P4 million).
GOCCs receiving no subsidies were the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Small Business Corp., the National Electrification Administration, the National Housing Authority, the National Power Corp., the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Philippine Reclamation Authority, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, and the Tourism Promotions Board.
In the first nine months, GOCC subsidies totaled P79.45 billion, down 24.50% from a year earlier.
The NIA had the most subsidies in the first nine months with P27.76 billion, followed by the NFA with P12.11 billion.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has said that GOCCs are expected to generate P157 billion in remittances this year, with 53 remitting P116.84 billion as of September. — Aubrey Rose A. Insane