GOCC Day
August 15, 2018
I thank everyone for coming today to celebrate the significant contributions of our Government Corporate Sector.
We have, by the last count, 125 government-owned- or controlled corporations or GOCCs. Each entity is a species unto itself. Each corporation performs a specific mission, delivering a unique service to complement the work of the government. The missions range from policy banking to support the country’s development goals to building and maintaining our irrigation systems to benefit our agriculture.
It is difficult to imagine our economic achievement without the tremendous contributions of our GOCCs. They have made possible mass housing, rural electrification, secure and safe water supplies for our burgeoning population, reliable mass transport and stable food prices, efficient health programs and social security services. Our newest GOCC provides banking and financial services for our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Because each GOCC has a unique mission, the various government corporations have different management requirements and financial performance. Some, as we know, are designed to lose money and require subsidies to fulfill their missions. Others, simply, are not managed well enough. The greater number, I am happy to note, operate with such efficiency that they are able to turn in a profit and remit dividends to the national government.
For the year 2017, total dividend remittances from GOCCs amounted to P30.46 billion. Eight GOCCs contributed at least one billion pesos in dividend remittances, namely: the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the National Power Corporation (NPC), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
We also want to recognize the remittances of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) totaling P8.46 billion from the disposition of assets in 2017 and 2018.
In the first seven months of this year, dividend remittances from GOCCs reached P32.03 billion—more than what we collected in the whole of 2017. And I think we should give everybody here a hand for their good performance, and especially the team of our Undersecretary Tonette Tionko and Assistant Secretary Mark Joven for their assiduous collection of the dividends. This is a remarkable financial achievement. The same top contributors I mentioned earlier, including now the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), made this feat possible.
The dividends will help us offset the subsidies we need to pay out to theGOCCs performing crucial social missions. They will go a long way in helping us hold down deficits and continue funding the infrastructure and social programs of President Duterte.
In closing, let me say that notwithstanding the diversity of our GOCCs, each must constantly strive for efficiency and the highest standards of corporate governance. There should be zero tolerance for incompetence. This, after all, is the expectation for all of government.
Thank you and good day.
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