Philippines: Napocor vows to remit P3.44 B add'l dividends

Philippines: Napocor vows to remit P3.44 B add'l dividends

State-run National Power Corp. (NPC) has committed to remit P3.44 billion in
additional dividends to the national government within five years to settle
its arrears since 2012, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the DOF's Corporate
Affairs Group (CAG) said the NPC has agreed to remit an additional P594
million per year starting in the third quarter to settle its P2.97 billion
arrears from 2012 to 2015.

This is on top of the P472 million the state corporation committed as
additional dividends from its 2016 profit due this month.

With these commitments, DOF Undersecretary and CAG head Antonette Tiokno
said the national government would receive from the NPC an additional P3.44
billion in revenue from 2017 to 2021.

She said the amount would be spent for the government's infrastructure and
social spending program.

"We told NPC that even if we collect they will still be left with
sufficient cash for their operations," Tiokno said.

As of end-May, Tiokno said the NPC has already remitted P333 million to the
Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

GOCCs are required to remit at least half of their net profit to the
national government pursuant to Republic Act 7656 or the GOCC Dividend Law.

Dominguez earlier said the DOF targets to collect a total of P114 billion in
arrears from government-owned and -controlled corportations (GOCCs),
including the NPC, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), Power Sector
Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
(CAAP).

Dominguez said the NPC still has a total of P20.66 billion in unpaid
dividends, while the PDIC has P46.5 billion; PSALM,P28.87 billion; PCSO,
P6.89 billion; and CAAP, P6.31 billion.

"There are arrears with PDIC, PSALM, NPC, PCSO and CAAP. But, fortunately
we are making progress in these dividends," he said.

According to Dominguez, GOCCs with unpaid dividends cited legal concerns and
poor collections for having arrears with the national government.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/07/01/1715084/napocor-vows-remit-p3.44
-b-addl-dividends

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com