By Alithea De Dios
A total of 63 government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) have remitted a total of P160.62 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) as of December 15 this year to help fund the government’s continuing efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 and provide economic relief to pandemic-hit businesses and individuals, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Of this amount, P133.50 billion represents the cash dividends from 55 GOCCs as mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 7656. Otherwise known as the Dividends Law, RA 7656 requires GOCCs to remit at least 50 percent of their net earnings to the National Government (NG).
The return of unutilized subsidies, payment of guarantee fees and NG advances, and other forms of remittances account for P27.12 billion.
According to the DOF-Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) led by Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, the amount of P133.50 billion in dividend contributions of GOCCs is already almost double the actual full-year collections for 2019 of P69.2-billion.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) topped the list of GOCCS with the highest dividend contributions, having remitted P40.53 billion, followed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) with P17.98 billion and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), P17 billion.
The other dividend contributors in the top 10 are the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), with P12 billion; Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), P6 billion; Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), P 6 billion; Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), P5.05 billion; Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), P5 billion; Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRecA), P4.4 billion; and National Power Corporation (NPC), P4 billion.
Other GOCCs that remitted dividends of more than P1 billion to the BTr are the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), P2.27 billion; PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), P2 billion; Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), P2 billion; Bases Conversion and Development Authority, P1.17 billion; and Clark Development Corp. (CDC), P1.13 billion.
The Philippine Sugar Corporation (Philsucor) contributed dividends of P875 million; National Development Company (NDC), P720 million; Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), P659.55 million; Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), P630.19 million; Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), P544.65 million; Cebu Port Authority (CPA), P500 million; and Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), P500 million.
The National Home Mortgage Finance Corp (NHMFC) remitted P359.96 million; Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), P358.50 million; Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), P324.11 million; Philippine Retirement Authority (PRetA), P216.37 million; Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA), P160 million; Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), P140.01 million; APO Production Unit, Inc. (APUI), P111.70 million; Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), P109.63 million; National Electrification Administration (NEA), P85.72 million; Philippine Postal Corp. (PPC), P80.35 million; Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), P71.46 million; Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), P69.95 million; Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), P62.90 million; LBP Insurance Brokerage, Inc. (LIBI), P62.77 million; and Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), P53.93 million.
GOCCs that also remitted dividends include the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), LBP Resources and Development Corp. (LBRDC); LBP Leasing and Finance Corp. (LBP-LC), Human Settlements Development Corp. (HSDC), Small Business Corp. (SBC), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), DBP Leasing Corp. (DBP-LC), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), National Housing Authority (NHA), Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPFI), Batangas Land Co. Inc. (BLCI), Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC), Kamayan Realty Corporation, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Auth (APECO), DBP Data Center Inc. (DDCI), Alabang Sto. Tomas Development Inc. (ASTDI), NDC Philippine Infrastructure Corporation, and the Pinagkaisa Realty Corporation (PRC).