Fifty-one (51) of 77 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) have remitted a total of P31.297 billion to the National Treasury as of the second week of July this year, according to data from the Department of Finance (DOF).

The dividends recorded by the DOF’s Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) as of July 12 already exceed the full-year total of P27.735 billion contributed by GOCCs in 2016 and P30.45 billion in 2017, and is poised to easily surpass the record of P33.473 billion remitted in 2015.

Dividend collections as of July 12 were also 64 percent higher than the P19.1 billion remitted by GOCCs for the same period last year, according to the CAG.

Of the 51 GOCCs that have remitted cash dividends as of July 11, the Top 10contributors were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), with a total of P6.224 billion so far submitted to the Treasury, followed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) with P 3,103 billion; Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), P2.844 billion; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), P 2.593 billion; and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), P 2.535 billion.

Rounding up the Top 10 were the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas with P2.5 billion; Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), P 2.25 billion; Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), P963.79 million; Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); P959.04 million; and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), P905.74 million.

“From January 1 to July 12 we collected more than what we collected the whole year of 2017,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said. “There will be a turnover to the President of the checks sometime this month.”

Dominguez attributed the significantly higher collections during this period to the efficient monitoring of GOCCs by DOF-CAG, headed by Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, as well as by finance officials sitting on the boards of these state-run firms.

“We (also) have to thank (Transportation) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade. He really helped. The big collections are from the DOTr (Department of Transportation) agencies,” Dominguez said.

According to Assistant Secretary Soledad Emilia Cruz of CAG, among the GOCCs that have substantially increased their dividend contributions were PAGCOR, whose remittance rose by P1.4 billion; PCSO, which was able to remit for the first time; and the PPA, which remitted up to 60 percent of its net profits as of July this year.

The other GOCCs that also remitted dividends were the National Power Corp. (NPC) with P867.13 million; Clark Development Corp. (CDC), P700 million; PNOC Exploration Corp., P605.53 million; Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), P600 million; and Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), P412.49 million.

Alabang Sto. Tomas Development, Inc. (ASTDI), APO Production Unit, Inc. (APUI), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), Batangas Land Company, Inc. (BLCI), BCDA Management Holdings Inc. (BMHI), Cebu Port Authority (CPA), DBP Leasing Corp. (DBP-LC), GY Real Estate Inc. (GYRIE), Kamayan Realty Corporation (KRC), Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), LBP Insurance Brokerage Inc. (LIBI), LBP Leasing and Finance Corporation (LBP-LC), LBP Resources and Development Corp. (LBRDC), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), and the Masaganang Sakahan Inc. also remitted to the Treasury.

The GOCC dividend contributors also included the Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System (MWSS), National Dairy Authority (NDA), National Development Company (NDC), National Electrification Administration (NEA), National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), National Housing Authority (NHA), NDC – Philippine Infrastructure Corporation (NDC-PIC), Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), Philippine Reclamation Corp. (PrecA), Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), Philippine Postal Corporation (PPC), Philippine Retirement Authority (PRetA), Philippine Sugar Corporation (Philsucor), PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority (PIA), Pinagkaisa Realty Corporation (PRC), Poro Point Management Corporation (PPMC), Small Business Guarantee Finance Corporation (SBFC), Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC), and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

Last year, dividends remitted by GOCCs to the National Treasury amounted to P30.45 billion, representing a 9.8 percent increase from the previous year’s collections of P27.73 billion.

The 2017 dividend collections exceeded the P27.73 billion remittances in 2016 even if Land Bank of the Philippines(LandBank)’s P6 billion dividends in 2017 were not included to allow the institution to recapitalize and better serve the increasing development needs of the country. Had these dividends been included, the total GOCC remittances would have reached P36.45 billion in 2017.

The dividend collections last year came from 53 GOCCs.

-oOo-