Peza pays P898M in dividends to national gov’t

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said it turned over more than P898 million worth of dividends to the national government in 2021, as the investment promotion agency continues to remit half of its income, as required by law.

Peza said in a statement on Friday that it paid P898.47 million in dividends to the national government through the Bureau of the Treasury.

From 2017 to 2021, Peza said it had already remitted P5.6 billion in dividends to the government, higher than the P5.2 billion dividends it turned over from 1996 to 2016.

“As Peza does not receive any subsidy from the government, we really have to be more aggressive and innovative in attracting new investments, creating employment, and generating exports,” said Charito Plaza, director general of Peza.

“Aside from the dividends of [P810.26 million] remitted in 2020, Peza also shared P1.19 billion to the national government for its COVID-19 response, which was the requested contributions from government-owned and -controlled corporations for that year. This totaled to P2 billion in dividends in 2020,” Plaza said.

The Fiscal Incentives Review Board said in a statement earlier this month that eight investment promotion agencies had received P58 billion in budgetary support from the national government in the past five years, including the Board of Investments, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.