GOVERNMENT-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) received 67.75% less budgetary support in July compared to a year earlier, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The BTr said subsidies provided to GOCCs plunged to P10.72 billion in July from P33.24 billion a year earlier.
Month on month, GOCC subsidies rose 5.51% from P10.16 billion in June.
The National Government provides budgetary support to GOCCs every month to cover their daily operations when revenues are insufficient.
The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) received the highest allocation for the month at P6.76 billion, accounting for 63.04% of all subsidies, the BTr said.
This was followed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority with P2.23 billion and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority with P357 million.
GOCCs that received at least P100 million in subsidies include the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (P282 million), the Philippine Heart Center (P168 million), the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P151 million), the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (P133 million), and the Philippine Coconut Authority (P112 million).
At least P50 million in subsidies went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (P80 million), the Light Rail Transit Authority (P72 million), the Lung Center of the Philippines (P70 million), the Development Academy of the Philippines (P64 million), and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (P60 million).
Receiving no subsidies were the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., the Social Housing Finance Corp., the Small Business Corp., the Local Water Utilities Administration, and the National Power Corp.
Also receiving no subsidies were the National Electrification Administration, the National Food Authority, the National Housing Authority (NHA), the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, the Philippine Postal Corp., the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the Sugar Regulatory Authority, and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
In the first seven months of the year, GOCC subsidies dropped 19.61% to P77.93 billion.
The NIA remained the top recipient for the period (P43.29 billion), followed by PSALM (P8 billion) and NHA (P3.75 billion).
Subsidies to government corporations decreased as the government spent more on infrastructure and calamity response, Philippine Institute for Development Studies Senior Research Fellow John Paolo R. Rivera said.
“The decline in subsidies may be due to a decline in availability of government funds due to declining revenue or cash flows given its high utilization in previous months to fund infrastructure spending, social protection programs, calamity response, and debt servicing,” he said via Viber.
In July, government spending rose 5.8% to P486.22 billion. This was attributed to higher interest payments and the increased National Tax Allotment share of local government units.
“It is also possible that GOCCs’ earning capacity increased… warranting reduced subsidies,” Mr. Rivera added.
In the coming months, the government must increase subsidies for PhilHealth due to the increase in monkeypox (mpox) cases, Mr. Rivera said.
As of Sept. 1, the Health department reported eight active cases of mpox in the Philippines. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz