2019 GOCC subsidies hit record-high

The amount of subsidies given away by the national government to state-run corporations hit a record-high of P201.5 billion in 2019, with Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) cornering the biggest share.

Subsidies to government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) last year jumped by nearly half of 2018’s P136.7 billion, the latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed.

In 2019, government financial institutions received P30.6 billion in subsidies; major nonfinancial government corporations, P69.6 billion; and other government corporations, P101.4 billion.

For the sixth straight year or since 2014, PhilHealth got the largest amount of annual subsidy among GOCCs, which amounted P72.7 billion last year or 36 percent of total.

PhilHealth is starting to implement this year the universal health care program.

As of mid-2019, PhilHealth had 51.4 million members with 42.1 million dependents, such that its total beneficiaries reached 93.5 million or 87 percent of the country’s estimated population of 108.1 million last year, data on its website showed.

But the Inquirer reported last year that PhilHealth since 2013 lost P154 billion from scams, including fake members, ghost patients, ghost dialysis treatments, overpayment of hospitals, as well as padding and “upcasing” of claims.

The other top recipients of GOCC subsidies in 2019 were the National Irrigation Administration with P36.6 billion; Land Bank of the Philippines, P30.5 billion; the National Housing Authority, P13.9 billion; the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, P10.8 billion; the National Food Authority, P7 billion; the National Electrification Administration, P4.9 billion; Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., P3.9 billion; the Light Rail Transit Authority, P3.7 billion; and the Philippine Coconut Authority, P2.1 billion.

Up to 90 percent of the subsidies that state-run firms received were being spent on programs and projects, while the rest covered operational expenses, according to the Governance Commission for Government Owned or Controlled Corporations. —Ben O. de Vera