Gov’t subsidy to state firms down by 39% in July

MANILA, Philippines—The government gave out P1.1 billion in subsidies to 26 state-owned and -controlled corporations in July, with the bulk going to entities engaged in housing, crops, health, livelihood, and forestry projects.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that the amount represented a decrease of 39 percent from the P1.8 billion given out in the same month last year.

This brought cumulative subsidies for the seven months to July to P15.26 billion, increasing by 65 percent from P9.27 billion in the same period last year.

The increase in the seven-month spending for subsidies was observed amid Malacañang efforts to make national agencies “catch up” with planned expenditures following sluggish disbursements in the first semester.

The top recipient during the seven months was the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., or PhilHealth, with P5.177 billion.

Also in the top 5 recipients during the seven-month period were the National Food Authority with P2.5 billion; National Housing Authority (NHA), P2.181 billion; National Power Corp., P2 billion; and National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), P1.381 billion.

The NHA was also the top subsidy recipient in July, getting P569 million.
Other agencies that got the biggest subsidies in July were Philippine Rice Research Institute with P105 million; Philippine Forest Corp., P100 million; NLDC, P90 million; and National Kidney and Transplant Institute, P50 million.

The BTr reported that state spending in the seven months to July reached P832.3 billion, or 10 percent less than the P924.4 billion incurred in the same period of 2010.

Also last month, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the P133.4 billion spent in July was the highest monthly government spending level attained so far this year.

Abad said Malacañang’s interventions to speed up spending and implementation of programs and projects were now taking effect.
“We’re seeing that departments and agencies will catch up significantly with their targets in the last five months of the year,” he said.

“We must fast-track the implementation of critical programs and projects in the remaining five months,” Abad added.