December 9, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The government further reduced its budgetary support to state-run firms by nearly 20 percent in the 10 months to October, with the bulk of the subsidies allocated to support irrigation projects.
Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) from January to October fell by 19.9 percent to P117.21 billion from P146.32 billion in the same period last year.
During the period, subsidies for other government corporations dropped by 56.2 percent to P34.708 billion from P79.27 billion a year ago. This category accounted for 29.6 percent of the total.
On the other hand, budgetary support for major non-financial government corporations reached P77.06 billion, rising by 15.8 percent from P66.56 billion. This comprised 65.7 percent of total subsidies.
The remaining five percent, or P5.44 billion, went to government financial institutions, primarily the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.
The government grants subsidies to GOCCs as a way to cover operational expenses that are not supported by their own revenues.
As of end-October, about 51.4 percent of the total subsidies went to the National Irrigation Administration at P60.21 billion.
This represents a 67.6-percent jump from the P35.92 billion it received in the same period last year.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. received the second-highest subsidy at P9.6 billion. However, subsidies to PhilHealth dropped by 81 percent during the period from the P50.75 billion it received a year ago.
The large, unused subsidies that PhilHealth received last year prompted the Department of Finance to order the return of P89.9 billion in sleeping funds back to the Treasury to fund other projects.
Of that amount, P60 billion has been transferred back to the Treasury, while the remaining P29.9 billion has been effectively held following the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order.
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. ranked third with P8 billion, increasing by 60 percent from the P5 billion allocated last year.
Other top subsidy recipients during the 10-month period included the National Housing Authority, National Food Authority, National Electrification Administration and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.
The smallest subsidy was given to the Philippine Center for Economic Development, at P28 million, followed by the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority with P39 million and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas with P40 million.
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