PAGCOR remits US$4.57m to the Philippine Sports Commission

The regulator has turned over PHP250m (US$4.57m) as a contribution to the government sports body.

The Philippines.- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has remitted on January 19 a total of PHP250m (US$4.57m) in remittances to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

This amount represents PAGCOR’s required contributions to the government sports body for November and December (PHP124.45m and PHP131.93m, respectively).

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said: “With the amount that we remitted, we hope to contribute significantly to the training of our national athletes for various international competitions and to the further development of Philippine sports. Our future remittances will be bigger as our operations are slowly easing back to normalcy.”

A simple turnover ceremony was held at PAGCOR’s Malate Executive Office where Tengco personally handed over the state-run gaming firm’s remittances to PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann.

Bachmann added: “This is definitely a big help to us as there are already a lot of requests coming from the NSAs (National Sports Associations) for equipment that they need for the training of their athletes for the coming SEA Games.”

In addition to transferring its authorized shares to the PSC, PAGCOR also provides monetary grants to athletes and coaches who win international competitions under the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act.

The agency played a key role in the successful implementation of the 30th SEAG in 2019, donating PHP842.50m to the PSC for the restoration of major sports facilities used by the Olympic Games. 

The state-owned gaming company also made a financial contribution to the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee to host the biennial gathering.

Last year there was a huge debate on whether to separate PAGCOR’s dual functions. The Philippine finance secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said it should be a regulator only. 

Diokno said: “PAGCOR is a regulator but at the same time it operates gambling companies. That’s wrong. If you’re a regulator, stick to that. You cannot run gambling casinos. It’s like saying that you have a central bank and yet you’re also running a bank. That cannot work.”

The Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) is evaluating the decoupling of the functions of the regulator.