MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assured the Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) that the dividends they remitted to the national government will be utilized to improve the lives of the people.
The President attended the 2024 GOCCs’ Day at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on Monday where he also led the awarding of Certificates of Acknowledgement of Dividend Remittances to the GOCCs that remitted their dividends to the national government.
Under Republic Act No. 7656, all GOCCs are mandated to declare and remit at least 50 percent of their annual net earnings as cash, stock, or property dividends to the national government.
“Since those dividends also come from the people, let me assure you, that they will be carefully spent like the precious taxes that come from the sweat of their brow. It will be plowed back to them through projects and programs that will improve their lives today, and also create a better tomorrow for our children,” President Marcos said.
“It will be invested back to growth-inducing activities that create jobs and harness opportunities,” he added.
President Marcos said the remitted dividends “will yield more dividends, unleashing a virtual cycle that lifts up those we serve to a higher standard of living.”
“To put it in the proper perspective, the dividends are not being remitted to the government to be stored, but to help the people, for after all, they are the GOCCs’ true stakeholders. Our call for higher earnings is a call for efficiency, and this goes especially to the agencies that deal directly with the people,” the President said.
“This should not be taken as a license to hike the fees that they pay,” he added.
In 2023, the total dividend collections from 52 GOCCs amounted to PhP100.74 billion, which is 47 percent higher than the PhP68.34 billion collections in 2022.
President Marcos expressed confidence that the remitted dividends will be surpassed this year.
The top 10 contributing GOCCs are as follows:
1. Land Bank of the Philippines – PhP32.12 billion
2. Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation – PhP10.68 billion
3. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas – PhP9.2 billion
4. Philippine Ports Authority – PhP5.06 billion
5. Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation – PhP 4.60 billion
6. Manila International Airport Authority – PhP3.45 billion
7. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority – PhP3.07 billion
8. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office – PhP2.7 billion
9. Philippine National Oil Company – PhP2.64 billion
10. National Transmission Corporation – PhP2.16 billion
The Department of Finance (DOF) initiated the GOCCs’ Day in 2011 as part of the government’s efforts to give due recognition to their significant and invaluable contributions in helping augment the funding needs of the national government pursuant to Republic Act No. 7656. (PND)
