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PhilHealth loses distinction as biggest recipient of state support to GOCCs after 10 years
The Marcos administration’s subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) significantly decreased last year, hitting a six-year low.
The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) revealed that GOCCs received a total of ₱138.8 billion in state subsidies from January to December 2024, a 15 percent drop compared to ₱163.5 billion in 2023.
Notably, the 2024 full-year subsidy figure was the lowest since 2018’s ₱136.7 billion.
It was also significantly lower than the peak of over ₱229 billion in 2020—at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the national government provided wage subsidies to workers in severely affected small businesses and distributed cash aid to vulnerable sectors during the peak of the strictest lockdown to contain the deadline virus.
During the current Marcos administration, this is the lowest annual GOCC subsidy so far.
Data from the BTr showed that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., or commonly known as PhilHealth, faced the most substantial decrease in government subsidy last year.
Subsidies to other government corporations, including PhilHealth, were halved in 2024, decreasing from ₱88.2 billion in 2023 to ₱43.1 billion. PhilHealth accounted for the largest portion of this decline.
State support for PhilHealth fell from ₱50.7 billion in 2023 to ₱9.6 billion in 2024, representing a reduction of over ₱41 billion. This is PhilHealth’s lowest subsidy in 13 years, since receiving ₱6.6 billion in 2011.
PhilHealth also stopped being the biggest recipient of GOCC subsidies, a distinction it held for an entire decade, from 2014 to 2023.
It happened while PhilHealth, which implements of the universal health care (UHC) program covering all Filipinos, faced alleged anomalies, financial mismanagement, and calls for reforms last year.
In particular, the transfer of funds from PhilHealth to the national treasury has been the subject of legal scrutiny and debate.
In 2024, the Department of Finance (DOF) initiated the transfer of ₱89.9 billion in excess funds from PhilHealth, designating these as "unused" or "idle" funds.
Of this amount, ₱60 billion was remitted, with approximately 78 percent allocated to various health and social projects, including pandemic-related benefits, medical assistance, procurement of medical equipment, and infrastructure development, according to the DOF.
But in October last year, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting the further transfer of the remaining ₱29.9 billion.
Meanwhile, government financial institutions (GFIs) received a combined ₱210 million in subsidies in 2024, a notable decrease from ₱629 million in 2023.
In contrast, subsidies to major non-financial government corporations surged by nearly 28 percent to ₱95.4 billion in 2024, representing an increase of nearly ₱21 billion from ₱74.7 billion in 2023.
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) received the largest share of these subsidies, amounting to ₱71.2 billion, up from ₱40.7 billion in 2023.
NIA used to play second fiddle to PhilHealth in receiving subsidy but finally overtook the health insurer last year.
According to its website, NIA is primarily responsible for the development and management of irrigation systems to support the country’s agricultural sector.
Up to 90 percent of the subsidies received by state corporations are allocated to programs and projects, with the remaining portion used for operational expenses, according to historical data from the Governance Commission for GOCCs.
Additionally, the national government offers budgetary support to GOCCs through equity and net lending.
