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Louise Maureen Simeon - The Philippine Star
March 15, 2025 | 12:00am
The government grants subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) as a way to cover operational expenses that are not supported by their own revenues.
Philstar.com / Irra Lising
Budgetary support down to P139 billion in 2024
MANILA, Philippines — Budgetary support to state-run firms declined by 15 percent to P139 billion in 2024 from P163.5 billion in 2023 as fiscal space remains limited, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.
The government grants subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) as a way to cover operational expenses that are not supported by their own revenues.
The Marcos administration began cutting down subsidies in 2023 as part of fiscal consolidation efforts aimed at reducing both the budget deficit and overall debt.
Support for major non-financial government corporations reached P95.41 billion in 2024, up by 28 percent from P74.7 billion in 2023. It cornered 69 percent of the total subsidies.
About 27 percent of the subsidies at almost P38 billion went to other government corporations. But the amount was 57 percent below the 2023 level of P88.2 billion.
The remaining P5.58 billion went to government financial institutions, recording a nearly nine-fold increase in subsidies.
Per agency, more than half of last year’s subsidies went to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) at P71.21 billion.
In 2023, NIA received the second largest subsidies among all GOCCs, but at a lower allocation of P40.74 billion.
The National Food Authority secured the second highest subsidy at P11.25 billion, 10.4 percent higher than the previous allocation of P10.18 billion.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. came in third with P9.6 billion, which was 81 percent lower than its subsidies in 2023 at P50.75 billion. PhilHealth previously had the biggest subsidy allocation.
The unused subsidies that PhilHealth received in 2023 prompted the Department of Finance to order the return of P89.9 billion in sleeping funds back to the Treasury to fund other projects, including unprogrammed appropriations that are seen to be the new congressional pork barrel.
Of that amount, P60 billion has been transferred back to the Treasury while the remaining P29.9 billion has been effectively stopped following the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order.
Among other recipients of large subsidies last year were the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (P8 billion), National Housing Authority (P5.53 billion), National Electrification Administration (P4 billion), Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (P3.15 billion), Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (P2.6 billion), Philippine Heart Center (P2.32 billion) and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P2.23 billion).
The smallest subsidies went to the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P34 million), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (P40 million), Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (P47 million), Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (P49 million), Philippine Tax Academy (P52 million), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P58 million), Credit Information Corp. (P60 million) and Philippine Postal Corp. (P70 million).
Last year, overall government expenditures went up by 11 percent to P5.93 trillion while revenues improved by 16 percent to P4.42 trillion.
The budget deficit slightly eased to P1.51 trillion in 2024.
