THE amount of subsidies given by the national government to companies it owns or controls during the first quarter of this year was 49.1-percent lower compared to the same period a year ago.
Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed subsidies extended by the national government to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) from January to March this year fell to P11.42 billion; last year it was P22.44 billion.
Broken down, the bulk of the subsidies for the first quarter of this year went to major non-financial government corporations that received a total of P8.06 billion while other government corporations took the remaining P3.36 billion.
Topping the list of GOCCs with the biggest subsidy during the period was the National Irrigation Administration, which received P7.49 billion or 65.6 percent of the total. It was followed by the following: Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P841 million); Small Business Corp. (P500 million); Philippine Heart Center (P444 million); and, National Kidney Transplant Institute (P320 million).
For March alone, the government disbursed P3.84 billion, a 67.9-percent contraction from P11.95 billion it released in the same month last year. In the same month, major non-financial government corporations received a total of P2.89 billion while other government corporations got P944 million.
The national government provides subsidies to state-run firms to fund operations not covered by the corporate revenues or to finance specific programs or projects.
Last year, the national government spent a total of P230.42 billion in subsidies to GOCCs, the highest since 1986 when the government started collecting data. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. cornered the biggest allocation, receiving P62.4 billion or 27 percent of the total subsidies released during the period.