Three transport agencies—Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA)—were among the top government-owned and controlled agencies (GOCCs) that turned over the biggest dividends to the national coffers for 2018.
Dividends remitted by GOCCs breached the P40-billion mark in 2018, the highest amount ever collected since the law requiring state firms to hand over 50% of their annual net earnings to the national government was enacted in 1994.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said total remittances from 55 GOCCs for 2018 were recorded at P40.17 billion, representing a 32% jump from the P30.46 billion collected in the previous year.
Of the total, CAAP contributed the second biggest with P6.224 billion, while PPA was fourth with P3.103 billion. MIAA, which operates Ninoy Aquino International Airport, was seventh with P2.251 billion.
CAAP had not remitted dividends for four years until 2017, when it emerged as the second biggest dividend contributor.
PPA and MIAA, meanwhile, have been regular members of the “Billionaires’ Club” of GOCCs, an elite group of GOCCs that have declared P1 billion or more in dividends.
Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. emerged as the top contributor in 2018 with P8.844 billion. Other GOCCs that surpassed the P1 billion mark included Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas with P3.637 billion; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with P2.593 billion; Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office with P2.535 billion; and National Power Corporation with P1.410 billion.
DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier attributed the significantly higher dividend remittances last year to the efficient monitoring of GOCCs by the DOF-Corporate Affairs Group as well as by finance officials sitting on the boards of these state-run firms.
According to Dominguez, the Department of Transportation also helped ensure that GOCCs under the administrative supervision of the transport department remitted their dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury.
Under Republic Act No. 7656, GOCCs are required to declare and remit at least half of their income as dividends to the national government.
