NIA got half of gov’t subsidy for GOCCs in January

Amid the dry spell due to the El Niño phenomenon, the government has granted National Irrigation Authority (NIA) more than half of the total subsidy it released in January to state-owned corporations.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed that of the P795 million in subsidies granted to government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) at the start of the year, NIA cornered P435 million or 55 percent of the total.

The amount of subsidy to NIA, the GOCC in-charge of irrigation development and management, slightly rose year-on-year from P426 million in January last year.

In 2018, NIA was the second biggest recipient of GOCC subsidies with P28.4 billion, behind Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s P52.9 billion.

But total subsidies to state corporations in January declined 14 percent from P922 million in the same month last year. The total last year was P136.7 billion.

The other recipients of subsidies that month included the Light Rail Transit Authority (P5 million), Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (P4 million), Cultural Center of the Philippines (P24 million), Credit Information Corp. (P5 million), Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (P11 million), Lung Center of the Philippines (P17 million), National Dairy Authority (P9 million), and National Kidney and Transplant Institute (P50 million).

The Philippine Coconut Authority got P14 million; Philippine Children’s Medical Center, P67 million; Philippine Heart Center, P74 million; Philippine Rice Research Institute, P49 million; Philippine Institute for Development Studies, P11 million; Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care, P6 million; People’s Television Network Inc., P6 million; Southern Philippines Development Authority, P4 million, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority, P4 million.

Up to 90 percent of the subsidies were spent by GOCCs on programs and projects, while 10 percent covered operational expenses.