Pagcor remits P5 billion to government

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the state-owned gaming firm, has remitted to the National Government a total of P5.04 billion in revenues as of end-June 2010, latest data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.

The amount represents the share of the National Government in the revenues generated by Pagcor.

However, the P5.04 billion is slightly smaller than the P5.48 billion remitted by the gaming firm in the same period the previous year.

In June 2010 alone, Pagcor remitted P920 million to the National Government, also smaller than the P988 million remitted in the same month last year.

Despite the decline in Pagcor remittances of state coffers, the government considers the gaming firm a major cash cow and is thinking of selling this to the private sector so that it can easily cash-in on the firm’s lucrative business, which could help boost state coffers.

President Aquino earlier hinted that the state-owned gaming firm may be better off in the hands of the private sector.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has said the Finance department supports this and that it is ready to look into the possibility of turning over Pagcor to private operators.

As such, the Finance department is now doing a review of all state-owned agencies including Pagcor to determine which ones may be turned over to the private sector.

Former Pagcor chairman Efraim Genuino once claimed the gaming firm was raking in P30 billion in revenues for the government, allegedly a P20-billion improvement from the time they took over in January 2001.

Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat is currently asking for a probe of the P21-million worth of transactions done during Genuino’s time.

Pagcor had accumulated P21 million of chicken and hamburger orders from a fastfood chain from January to June this year, supposedly for the Philippine National Police.

The Aquino administration hopes to rein in the budget deficit, which is expected to hit P325 billion this year or 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).