BCDA remits P5.22 billion to National Treasury

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The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has remitted to the National Treasury a total of P5.220 billion, including guarantee fees and dividends, from January to December 2017, the highest amount generated by the agency so far compared with its previous full-year remittances since 2012.

Of this amount, P4.839 billion—representing the revenues generated from assets disposed by the BCDA from January to date—will go to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program and other beneficiary agencies as provided under the law.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said the BCDA’s remittances for the January-December 2017 period are broken down as follows: dividends worth P130 million; guarantee fees worth P250 million; and disposed assets worth P4.839 billion.

BTr data show that remittances of the BCDA to the Treasury amounted to P3.93 billion in 2016, of which P3.39 billion was contributed to the AFP Modernization Program. This sum was higher than the BCDA’s 2015 remittances of P3.201 billion, of which P1.5 billion went to the AFP Modernization Program.

The BCDA’s remittances in 2014 slightly dipped to P2.207 billion, of which P1.588 billion was for military modernization. In 2013, the BCDA generated P2.389 billion and contributed P1.692 billion to the AFP Modernization Program.

For 2012, which was prior to the enactment into law of Republic Act No. 10349, or the Revised AFP Modernization Act, BCDA’s remittances reached P348 million, of which P245 million went to the military’s modernization efforts.

In a report posted on its website, the BCDA said that under “Republic Act No. 10349, or the Revised AFP Modernization Act of 2012,” the agency has the authority “as the corporate arm of the AFP and the Department of National Defense (DND), in the disposition and development of camps not covered by RA 7227 (the BCDA charter).”

RA 10349 also extends the AFP’s modernization program for another 15 years, aimed to boost the country’s external defense capability, according to the BCDA website.

In its statement, the BCDA said its recent remittance of P1.2 billion was in in addition to the P3.6 billion contribution remitted earlier this year for the AFP Modernization Program, for a total of P4.8 billion to date, which “accounts for a 300 percent increase from the average contribution of Php1.5 billion for the period 2006 to 2015. The amount also increased significantly from the 2015 remittance of Php2.2 billion.”

“To date, the BCDA has raised a total of Php36.6 billion for the AFP modernization program which is allocated for the purchase of military equipment to ensure sustained capability upgrade of the Armed Forces. Of the amount, P25.2 billion accounts for the AFP share while Php11.4 billion is earmarked for the replication of military facilities such as housing units, hospitals, churches, and museums, among others. This is in line with BCDA’s mandate to strengthen the Armed Forces while building great cities,” the BCDA said in its statement.