By Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio, May 29 2019; Business World

https://www.bworldonline.com/gocc-dividends-ahead-of-pace-to-crush-record-2018-performance/

Image Credit to Philippine Star

FORTY-SIX government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) remitted a total of P38.9 billion worth of dividends to the Treasury in the five months to May, or just 3% less than the record P40.17 billion remitted in all of 2018, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.

In a statement Wednesday, the DoF said the dividends remitted in the first five months of this year is higher by 45% than the P26.8 billion recorded in the same period of 2018.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, in a statement, attributed the GOCCs’ performance to “the efficient monitoring of, and fiscal discipline instilled in, GOCCs by the DoF-CAG (Corporate Affairs Group) as well as by other finance officials sitting on the respective boards of these state-run firms.”

By law, GOCCs are required to remit half of their profits to the Treasury. The single largest dividend of P16.17 billion was turned in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) amounting to P16.17 billion.

This was followed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) with P4.58 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), P4 billion, Philippine Ports Authority, P3.51 billion, Manila International Airport Authority, P3.42 billion, and the National Power Corp., P842 million.

The rest of the top 10 are Clark Development Corp. (CDC) with P815 million, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) P744 million, PNOC Exploration Corp (PNOC-EC) P699 million, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) P650 million.

The DoF noted that the P40.17 billion remitted in 2018 was the highest since 1994, when state firms were first required to make 50% dividend payouts.

The 2018 total is 32% higher than the dividends collected in 2017. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio