Oct. 22--The government said it received higher nontax revenues from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs) through dividends remitted during the first nine months of the year. Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul said the amount of dividends remitted by state-run firms from January to September surged 144 percent to P11 billion, higher than the P4.5 billion turned over in the same period last year.

The remittances came from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Oil Co-Exploration Corp. and dividends from shares of stocks.

As of end-September, the BSP remitted P6 billion in dividends after it posted a net income of P8.93 billion last year. This brought the total remittances of the central bank to P120 billion since 1993.

The BSP, however, is trying to collect P40 billion from the government, which represents the balance of its law-mandated recapitalization of P50 billion when it replaced the old central bank in 1995.

Under Republic Act 7656, or the Dividends Law of 1994, state-run enterprises are required to remit half of the income earned in each fiscal year to the national government, except for BSP, which is required to remit 75 percent.

Soon-to-be-privatized PNOC-EC remitted P1-billion worth in dividends after it posted a net income of P3.05 billion last year, while LandBank and DBP remitted P1 billion and P393 million in dividends, respectively.

The national government expects dividend remittances from mother unit Philippine National Oil Corp. to reach P17.6 billion this year.

The nine-month dividends remitted by GOCCs and GFIs, however, were easily wiped out by the P12.6 billion in subsidies extended to losing GOCCs in the same period.

The Department of Finance is banking on remittances by these companies and proceeds from its privatization program to help plug its budget deficit target of P250 billion, or 3.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Because of this, the government is now hard-pressed to sell the Food Terminals Inc. Complex in Taguig City, its stake in PNOC-EC, and its Fujimi property in Japan before the year closes--for a combined target revenues of at least P30 billion.

If all of these properties are disposed, the government may breach the privatization goal of P30 billion this year if it is able to sell its shares in food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. for an estimated P50 billion to P56 billion.

The government's shareholdings in the food and beverage conglomerate account for 24 percent of the company, entitling the state to at least three board seats.

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