GOVERNMENT subsidies to state-run companies rose to P38.28 billion in July, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.
Latest Treasury data showed that 26 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) secured that amount, a 17.8-percent drop from P32.47 billion in the same month last year.
The Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank or LBP) accounted for the bulk, or P18.48 billion, of total subsidies in the month.
According to National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, the subsidy for LandBank was allocated for its Pantawid Pasada Program.
“That’s for the distribution for jeepney drivers, I think. It is not for LBP operations, but [for its] cash transfer program,” she told reporters over the weekend.
The program provides a lump sum subsidy of P5,000 to registered legitimate jeepney franchise holders to cushion the impact of higher fuel prices.
The National Housing Authority (NHA) followed with P8.27 billion; the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), P7.56 billion; and the National Electrification Administration, P1.10 billion.
Also receiving assistance in July were the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Light Rail Transit Authority, National Food Authority, National Power Corp., Philippine National Railways, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Credit Information Corp., Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Dairy Authority, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Coconut Authority, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care, People’s Television Network Inc., Southern Philippines Development Authority, Sugar Regulatory Administration, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority.
Year-to-date, government subsidies plunged by 35.1 percent to P64.98 billion from the year-earlier P100.21 billion.
State-run companies with the biggest funding assistance in the first seven months of the year were the NIA, with P23.57 billion; LandBank, P18.48 billion; and NHA, P8.27 billion.
Subsidies fell under the national government’s disbursements program.
State spending in July rose by 3.4 percent to P339.4billion from P328.1 billion a year ago, but failed to boost the year-to-date tally, which contracted by 0.1 percent to P1.92 trillion.
In 2018, the government gave away a record P136.652 billion in subsidies.
