Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has commended the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) for setting the example for other government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) in stepping up support for the country’s COVID-19 response by remitting P3.541 billion in dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) for 2020, or 6 percent more than the required amount under the law.

The dividend contribution of PPA, which is under the Department of Transportation (DOTr), represents 56 percent of its 2020 net income after tax of P6.138 billion.

GOCCs are mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 7656 or the Dividend Law to declare and remit to the national government at least 50 percent of their net income as dividends.

“I laud the PPA under General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago for once again being among the top dividend contributors. This sets the example for other GOCCs to follow, especially at this time when we need all the financial support we can muster to continue funding our pandemic resp0nse and COVID-19 vaccination program,” Dominguez said.

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic which reduced PPA’s volume of business, the state-run firm was able to remit the amount of P3.541 billion, which is only slightly lower than the P4 billion it remitted for the pre-pandemic fiscal year of 2019.

Dominguez also thanked Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for ensuring that GOCCs under his watch always comply with the provisions of the Dividend Law and fulfill their responsibility to contribute to the government’s COVID-19 response.

He also cited the efforts of Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Antonette Tionko and DOF Assistant Secretary Soledad Emilia Cruz of the Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) for continuing to instill fiscal discipline among GOCCs so that the national government can collect the correct amount of dividends they are obligated to remit under the law.

Since the start of the Duterte administration, the PPA has been a consistent top-performing agency of the DOTr, remitting a total of P17.17 billion in dividends to assist the government in the implementation of its priority programs.

Covering the period from January 1 to March 26, 2021, the PPA ranks as the third biggest dividend contributor to the BTr, next to the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) with P8.3 billion and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) with P7.1 billion.

A total of 10 GOCCs already remitted a combined P21.44 billion in dividends to the BTr during this period.

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