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Elijah Felice Rosales - The Philippine Star
April 29, 2025 | 12:00am
Data showed PPA’s net income went up to P3.88 billion from January to March, from P1.73 billion a year ago.
Businessworld / File
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) hiked its profit by more than double in the first quarter, setting it up for another year of possibly turning over its highest dividends.
Data showed PPA’s net income went up to P3.88 billion from January to March, from P1.73 billion a year ago.
The regulator of domestic ports managed to push up profit by expanding its revenue sources and slashing so
Broken down, revenue rose by 24 percent to P7.12 billion, lifted by service and business income drawn from the operations and maintenance of ports. This was accompanied by a 19 percent cut in expenses, to P3.24 billion.
It is important for the PPA to earn as much profit as it can as it is one of the biggest contributors of dividends among state-run firms. In 2024, the PPA remitted a record P5.2 billion in dividends, beating the previous high of P5.06 billion in 2023.
The PPA is one of the government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) with the highest dividends, joining the company of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Under Republic Act 7656, or the Dividends Law, GOCCs have to contribute at least half of their profit to the Bureau of the Treasury to support the government’s fiscal program.
Dividends are listed as non-tax revenues, so they partly finance state programs on infrastructure and livelihood.
Likewise, the PPA allocates part of its profit for the construction of new terminals and upgrade of existing ones. For instance, the agency last week inaugurated the new port operations building of the Balingoan Port in Misamis Oriental as part of the P430.39-million upgrade of the facility.
For 2025, the PPA aims to finish port projects in several provinces, including in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur; Cagayan de Oro; Catanduanes and Negros Occidental. Further, the agency will expedite the completion of cruise terminals in tourist hotbeds Aklan, Camiguin and Palawan.
Based on data from the PPA, cargo throughput in ports went up by six percent to 289.52 million metric tons in 2024, from 274.46 MMT in 2023, thanks to the sustained recovery of world trade.
Passenger volume in ports also surged by seven percent to 78.74 million, buoyed by the demand for leisure travel among Filipinos.
