SUBSIDIES provided to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) surged to P64.95 billion in August, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported.
The BTr said budgetary support to state-run firms was sharply higher than the P8.02 billion worth of subsidies a year earlier. Month on month, GOCC subsidies were up 860.19% from July.
State-owned firms receive monthly subsidies from the National Government to support their daily operations if their revenue is insufficient.
In August, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) received the largest subsidy amounting to P58.56 billion, accounting for 90.16% of the total.
The BTr said this allocation involves the returned fund balance from unutilized subsidies remitted to the BTr following a Supreme Court ruling.
It was followed by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with P2.28 billion, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) with P863 million, and National Food Authority (NFA) with P855 million.
Agencies with the lowest non-zero subsidies include the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P4 million), the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P5 million) and the Philippine Tourism Authority (P5 million).
Receiving zero subsidies were the Small Business Corp., the National Electrification Administration, the Philippine National Railways, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI), the Philippine Postal Corp., the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
In the first eight months, GOCC subsidies hit P191.79 billion, up 173%. The biggest recipients in the January-to-August period were PhilHealth (P118.56 billion), the NIA (P13.47 billion), and the FTI (P10 billion). — Justine Irish D. Tabile