Dividends remitted by government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) to the national government totaled to P57.55 billion in 2021, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported in a statement yesterday.
This is 9.4 percent higher than the 2019 pre-pandemic collection of P52.59 billion, the DOF said.
In 2020, the dividends remitted by GOCCs posted a record-high figure of P156.97 billion which was primarily utilized for the Social Amelioration Program.
The DOF’s corporate affairs group (CAG) said the 2021 remittances exclude the dividends foregone in 2020 income from the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), which retained their dividend contributions to continue boosting their capital requirements.
Inclusive of the dividend relief granted to select GOCCs, including Landbank and DBP, the total dividend collections for 2021 amount to P84.72 billion, 22.5 percent higher than 2019’s P69.17 billion, the DOF said.
It added under the Duterte administration, total dividend collections inclusive of dividend relief averaged P68.7 billion annually, more than double the level of the past administration which collected an average of P27.5 billion-worth of dividends per year.
Assistant Secretary Soledad Emilia Cruz of the CAG said the high level of compliance by GOCCs to Republic Act 7656, or the Dividends Law, was the result of the DOF’s persistent efforts to ensure that even state-run firms with dividend deficiencies and arrears are able to remit either through staggered remittance arrangements or other payment options that may be warranted.
Under the Dividends Law, GOCCs are required to remit at least 50 percent of their net earnings to the national government.
Cruz said for the remaining period of the Duterte administration, the CAG expects to collect at least P32 billion as dividend remittances of GOCCs by end-June 2022.
