CASH DIVIDENDS remitted by government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) to the National Government more than doubled to a record P157 billion last year as the government leaned on the sector to help fund the pandemic response, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.
The 2020 tally was up 127% from a year earlier, factoring in foregone dividends, which the government allowed for GOCCs that needed to retain earnings, the DoF said in a statement Monday, citing a report from Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko.
The DoF said the 2020 collection was the highest since Republic Act No. 7656 was signed in November 1993. The law requires GOCCs to remit at least 50% of their annual net earnings as cash, stock or property dividends to the National Government.
With foregone dividends excluded, the year-on-year growth was 157% to P135.08 billion in 2020, Ms. Tionko said.
She said 76% of the remitted dividends or P119.1 billion helped fund the Social Amelioration Program, under which cash handouts were given to 18 million poor households to help them survive the strictest days of the lockdown in April.
The top contributors last year were the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which remitted P40.53 billion, and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. with P17.98 billion. Dividends of the two GOCCs accounted for 87% of the total.
The DoF said its Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) “will continue to instill fiscal discipline among GOCCs, especially those with existing arrears, to ensure their compliance with the Dividends Law and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).”
Ms. Tionko said the CAG and the Governance Commission for GOCCs agreed last year to transfer the web-based GOCC Debt Recording and Monitoring System (GDRAMS) to the DoF.
“GDRAMS will help in the analysis of GOCC debt and better manage the government’s financial exposure and strategy formulation,” she was quoted as saying, adding that the DoF will improve the system further and train the state-run firms to use the platform. — Beatrice M. Laforga
