Drilon asks DBP to remit more money to govt

After hounding the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on the mandated remittances to the national coffers, Senator Franklin Drilon on Thursday asked the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to remit additional dividends to the national government. Republic Act 7656 requires government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC) — like the DBP — to declare and remit at least 50 percent of annual net earnings as cash and stock or property dividends to the national government. In Thursday's Senate hearing on perks allegedly received by GOCC executives, DBP chairman Patricia Sto. Tomas said that the banks religiously transmitted the required amount to the national coffers. But Drilon, who heads the Senate finance committee, said that the committee will ask the DBP to remit at least part of its "special dividends" in the hopes of funding the deficit. Sto. Tomas revealed that DBP accumulated P18 billion in earnings over the last 10 years. She said that she can ask the DBP board to convene and "seriously consider" giving part of it to the government. DBP executive vice president Benedicto Bitonio Jr., for his part, said that the bank is capable of making such a remittance. "It will have an impact on capital adequacy ratio, (but) at this point we can do it," he said in the hearing. DBP registered a net income of P6 billion last year; P3.5 billion in 2008; and P2.6 billion in 2007. Sto. Tomas added that the DBP board members get about P1.68 million a year, including P1,000 in per diem and P140,000 in representation expenses that are subject to receipts and documents. "It is availed of but not to the full amount." she said. Earlier, Drilon convinced the BSP to transmit more than P9 billion in back remittances to the national coffers. —Kimberly Jane Tan/VS, GMANews.TV