Irrigation agency got bulk of state subsidy in first 9 months

In line with President Duterte’s directive to provide farmers with free irrigation, the National Irrigation Administration received the biggest state subsidy among all government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) in the first nine months of the year.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed that of the P83.625 billion in subsidies granted to GOCCs from January to September, P24.53 billion or 29 percent went to the NIA.

The GOCC mainly responsible for irrigation development and management in the country, the NIA received the largest chunk of monthly subsidies in January, February, May, August and September.

During the campaign period, President Duterte promised free irrigation for farmers.

As such, the NIA was allocated a higher P38.4 billion under the 2017 national budget not only to provide free irrigation but also to build new irrigation systems and rehabilitate and restore existing facilities.

An additional allocation of P2 billion would be “irrigation fee subsidy” in lieu of the collection of irrigation service fees from farmers.

The NIA had been collecting about P1.8 billion in irrigation service fees yearly, according to reports.

In 2016, the NIA was the second biggest recipient of GOCC subsidies, after Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

As of end-September, PhilHealth’s subsidies reached P24.394 billion, slightly lower than those received by the NIA during the nine-month period.

Last year, PhilHealth got P43.8 billion in subsidy, the highest among GOCCs.

The latest data on its website showed that in 2016, PhilHealth had 41.2 million members with 52.2 million dependents, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 93.4 million or 91 percent of the projected 2016 population.

Next year, PhilHealth expects to get the biggest chunk of subsidies worth P57.1 billion.

The Governance Commission for GOCCs had said that up to 90 percent of the subsidies to state corporations were being spent on programs and projects, while the remainder covered operational expenses. —BEN DE VERA