Thu | 04.23.2020 | 07:30 PM

On April 21, 2020, Philippine Sports Commissioner Ramon Fernandez stated that the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) intends to implement the Social Amelioration Program for national athletes and coaches amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he said, “they are studying the process since the agency will source the money from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), which has placed its monthly allocation to the PSC on hold.”

Contrary to Commissioner Fernandez’s statement, PAGCOR wishes to clarify that it has just remitted P150.75 million to PSC on March 31, 2020. This amount represents the state-gaming agency’s mandated contribution to PSC for the month of February 2020 alone.

Likewise, PAGCOR has already released P99.42 million for its mandated contributions to PSC for the month of March. PSC, however, has not yet claimed the check.

Because of these recent contributions, PAGCOR’s total contributions to PSC from January to March 2020 already amounted to P409.01 million.

Compared to same period last year, this amount decreased by 4.7% due to PAGCOR's lower revenues brought about by the suspension of all gaming operations in the country amidst the COVID -19 pandemic.

But in 2019, the total PSC share remitted by PAGCOR reached P1.79 billion. This amount excludes the state-gaming agency’s P842 million grant for the rehabilitation of Philsports Complex Multipurpose Arena and Rizal Memorial Complex, as the country hosted the 30th Southeast Asian Games in December 2019.

It is clear that PAGCOR has not been remiss of its financial commitments to its mandated beneficiaries like the PSC. The state-gaming agency is doing its best to continuously be of service to the nation, especially in this difficult time.

In fact, aside from its remittances to PSC and other mandated contributions, PAGCOR has already contributed a total of P26.5 billion to the government from March to April 2020 to help fight the pandemic.

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