PAGCOR disallowance lifted by COA

The Commission on Audit has concluded that PAGCOR’s use of funds for intelligence and intelligence activities was justified.

The Philippines.- The Commission on Audit (COA) has announced the lifting of a PHP254.8m disallowance issued against The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for cash advances related to confidential and intelligence (CI) activities from 1997 to 2012. 

The decision, outlined in a 10-page document signed by chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and commissioners Roland Cafe Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana, comes after PAGCOR filed an appeal challenging the initial notice of disallowance (ND) No. 2013-10-008 issued on October 23, 2013.

The disallowance cited discrepancies between allocated budget and actual expenditure as reported in PAGCOR’s Accomplishment Reports. However, in its appeal dated March 4, 2014, PAGCOR contested the COA’s findings, asserting that the commission had misunderstood the nature of its CI operations.

On closer examination, the COA found that activities funded by the CI allocation overlapped with those covered by PAGCOR’s security operation budget. As a result, the commission acknowledged the validity of the PHP254m CI fund.

See also: Philippine government’s share of PAGCOR 2023 income below pre-pandemic levels