Pagcor increases remittance to PSC

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Sports Commission will have more funds in its coffers before the year ends due to the increase of remittance from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.

Pagcor,  a government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC), is required under the law to remit a certain percentage of its casino earnings to the PSC on a monthly basis.

The past few years, the monthly remittance from Pagcor was P40 to P50 million a month, and for the PSC it represents the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF).

It is mainly used to feed the close to 50 national sports associations (NSA) and the hundreds of national athletes and coaches, from their training expenses to allowances and salaries.

The other part of the PSC budget comes from Congress – the General Appropriations Act (GAA) –  which is spent on grassroots programs, infrastructure and general and administrative expenses, including honoraria and salaries of PSC officials and employees. 

The PSC budget from Congress does not exceed P200 million a year.

Chairman Richie Garcia said the other day that the Pagcor remittance had gone up to as much as P80 million a month, which means bigger savings for the government sports agency.

“We welcome the increase,” said Garcia.

But he said it doesn’t mean that the PSC, one of the government agencies with the smallest budget from Congress, can go on a spending spree.

“Just because we have P25 million or P30 million more we have to spend them right away. Hindi naman natin gagastusin yan agad,” said the PSC chairman.

The PSC, he said, will continue its plans and programs for the NSAs under the original budget for 2015.

“But for 2016, we will review the allowances of our athletes and coaches. We’re thinking of giving them bigger allowances,” said Garcia.

“We are really thankful to Pagcor for the increase. We also plan to increase the number of athletes in our developmental pool,” he said. 

The PSC has to study things carefully because a drop in the Pagcor earnings will also mean a drop in its monthly remittance to the PSC.

“That’s why we cannot just spend all of the extra money. We have to be prudent,” said Garcia.