The national government ramped up its financial support to state-owned companies in the first half of the year, specifically those engaged in public healthcare and irrigation development, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
According to the Treasury’s fiscal performance report, state subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) reached P63.7 billion from January to June, a 21 percent increase compared to the P52.74 billion spending in the same period last year.
However, the amount disbursed for GOCC subsidies was less than half of the allotted P145.68 billion by the government for the period.
Furthermore, the end-June subsidy only represents 29.7 percent of the government’s full-year program of P214.53 billion.
Based on the Treasury report, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) received the largest subsidy support of P21.8 billion, accounting for 14.9 percent of the total.
In June alone, NIA, the agency responsible for the development of the country’s irrigation system, received P3.52 billion in subsidy from the national government.
Following NIA, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) received P15 billion in subsidy, which represented 10.3 percent of the overall government aid.
The P15 billion disbursement to PhilHealth took place in June. The agency is mandated to provide social health insurance coverage to all Filipinos.
The NIA and PhilHealth, being key players in the government’s provision of social services, consistently rank among the top recipients of state subsidies.
In 2022, these two GOCCs accounted for 60.2 percent of the government’s subsidy spending, with PhilHealth receiving P80.05 billion and NIA receiving P40.66 billion.
In addition to NIA and PhilHealth, several other GOCCs received substantial subsidies of at least P1 billion in the first two quarters.
These included the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (P5 billion), the National Food Authority (P4.57 billion), and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P2.9 billion).
Furthermore, subsidies were allocated to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (P1.93 billion), the National Housing Authority (P1.2 billion), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (P1.17 billion), the National Power Corp. (P1.14 billion), and the Philippine Heart Center (P1.07 billion).