The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is targeting to surpass this year its dividend remittance of P4.44 billion in 2022.
In a statement, PPA said its remittance to the national government rose 9 percent from P4.08 billion in 2021, making it a consistent top performer among government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) in the corporate government scorecard over the past six years.
Jay Santiago, PPA general manager, said the agency is gearing up to surpass its 2022 dividend remittance for fiscal year 2023.
“The latest dividends contribution from PPA will greatly help our government’s recovery efforts from the pandemic especially now that we are gaining momentum towards economic recovery,” Santiago said.
In 2019, the agency turned over P5.1 billion in cash dividends to the National Treasury, the highest since its creation in 1986.
The PPA said from 2016 to 2022, it has remitted a total of P25.9 billion, the highest remittance in the past decades.
Its increasing dividend hikes could be seen in the trend since 2016 with P1.96 billion, P3.10 billion in 2017, P3.52 billion in 2018, P5.05 billion in 2019 which is the highest amount ever remitted by the agency, P3.76 billion in 2020 during the pandemic, P4.08 billion in 2021 and P4.44 billion in 2022, cementing PPA as one of the top-tier GOCCs in terms of dividend remittances.
Under Republic Act No. 7656, “An Act Requiring Government Owned or Controlled Corporations to Declare Dividends under Certain Conditions to the National Government, and for other purposes” or also known as the dividend law, the PPA is required to declare and remit at least 50 percent of its net earnings as cash, stock and/or property dividends to the national government for national development and building.
Santiago attributed the success of PPA’s strong and steady financial performance to its sound fiscal management and the lifting of the coronavirus restrictions. – Myla Iglesias
