Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has said that record remittances from 54 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) will go a long way in helping the Duterte administration hold down deficits and sustain its aggressive spending on infrastructure and human capital development.

Dominguez said recently at Malacañan Palace that the “remarkable financial achievement” of these GOCCs, which remitted a combined P32 billion over the January-July period alone, will help offset the subsidies that the government needs to shell out to other GOCCs performing crucial social missions such as ensuring stable food prices and providing electrification and safe water supply to low-income communities.

A total of 54 GOCCs remitted a record P32.03 billion in dividends in the first seven months of 2018, which is roughly P1.6 billion more or 5.2 percent higher than the P30.46 billion collected from these state-run firms for the entire year of 2017, he said.

“It is difficult to imagine our economic achievement without the tremendous contributions of our GOCCs. They have made possible mass housing, rural electrification, secure and safe water supplies for our burgeoning population, reliable mass transport and stable food prices, efficient health programs and social security services,” Dominguez said during this year’s GOCC Day held at the Rizal Hall of the Palace.

President Duterte received during the event a ceremonial cheque representing the dividend contributions of GOCCs for the January-June 2018 period amounting to P32.03 billion.

Under Republic Act No. 7656, GOCCs are required to declare and remit to the national government at least half of their income as dividends.

As part of its fiscal oversight functions, the Department of Finance (DOF) is responsible for overseeing the financial sustainability of GOCCs. Fiscal support such as national government guarantees on GOCC loans, advances for debt servicing and the determination and collection of GOCC dividends are also within the ambit of the DOF.

Dominguez commended the DOF’s Corporate Affairs Group led by Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, who, along with Assistant Secretaries Mark Dennis Joven and Soledad Emilia Cruz, “assidious[ly]” collected the dividends” from GOCCs.

The government has a total of 125 GOCCs. Its newest GOCC is the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFB), which caters to the banking and financial needs of overseas-based Filipinos.

Dominguez said that because each GOCC has a unique mission, they have different management requirements and financial performance standards.

“Some, as we know, are designed to lose money and require subsidies to fulfill their missions. Others, simply, are not managed well enough. The greater number, I am happy to note, operate with such efficiency that they are able to turn in a profit and remit dividends to the national government,” Dominguez said.

Last year, total dividend remittances from GOCCs reached P30.46 billion.

The top GOCCS that contributed at least P1 billion in dividend remittances in 2017 were: the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the National Power Corporation (NPC), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

From January to July this year, the dividend remittances of P32.03 billion was made possible by the same top contributors for 2017,and a newcomer to the list—the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The following were the amount of dividend remittances from these top GOCCs for January-July 2018. 1) CAAP, P6.225 billion; 2) PPA, P3.103 billion, 3) PDIC, P2.844 billion; 4) PAGCOR, P2.593 billion; 5) PCSO, P2.535 billion; 6) BSP, P2.5 billion; and 7) MIAA, P2.251 billion. The dividend remittances of these GOCCs represented 69 percent of the total dividend contributions or P22.052 billion.

In his speech, Dominguez also made special mention of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which remitted P8.46 billion that came from the disposition of its assets in 2017 and 2018.

Dominguez urged other GOCCs to strive for efficiency and practice the highest standards of corporate governance as these state-owned firms have been doing on the Duterte watch.

“Let me say that notwithstanding the diversity in the missions of our state-owned enterprises, each must constantly strive for efficiency and the highest standards of corporate governance. There should be zero tolerance for incompetence. This is, after all the expectation for all of government,” Dominguez said.

At the start of the Duterte administration, from July to December 2016, 13 GOCCs remitted dividends for 2015 amounting to P276.52 million.

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