GOCC subsidies cut 65% in July

MANILA, Philippines - Subsidies given by the government to state agencies declined to their lowest level in three months in July, pushing down the year-to-date average by 17 percent, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

State subsidies amounted to P2.32 billion in July, 65 percent lower than the P6.63 billion recorded in the same period last year. The amount was the lowest since April’s P785 million.

The latest figure brought the seven-month tally to P46.29 billion, also down from last year’s P56.17 billion.

Subsidies are given by the government to government-owned and –controlled corporations (GOCCs) as well as government financial institutions (GFIs) to cover for their financing needs during the entire fiscal year.

In turn, GOCCs and GFIs annually remit part of their operating proceeds to national coffers. Subsidies form part of government expenditures, while GOCC remittances are considered state revenues.

Since the Aquino administration took over in 2010, subsidies have consistently gone up, except in 2012, the year after RA 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 was enacted. The law established the Governance Commission for GOCCs which now oversees the state companies’ operations.

In July, only seven out of 38 GOCCs were given subsidies. The highest was received by the National Electrification Administration, which got a total of P1.22 billion. It was followed by Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. with P345 million.

The other agencies that received subsidies and their corresponding amounts were the National Irrigation Commission (P276 million), National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (P250 million), Philippine Rice Research Institute (P144 million) and Quedan Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (P43 million).

For the first seven months, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. topped the list of subsidy receivers with P32.59 billion, cornering 70 percent of aggregate disbursements. It was followed by National Food Authority at far second with P4.25 billion.