THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) said it already remitted a total of P409.01 million to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for the first three months of 2020.
The state-gaming agency said part of the amount was the P150.75 million it disbursed to the PSC as part of its mandated contribution to the sports organization for the month of February.
Pagcor issued the statement on Friday to prove it hasn’t ‘put on hold’ its monthly allocation to the government sports agency as implied by a statement made by a top PSC official.
It added the agency also released P99.42 million for its mandated contributions to the PSC for the month of March even after Luzon was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The PSC however, has yet to claim the check.
“It is clear that Pagcor has not been remiss of its financial commitments to its mandated beneficiaries like the PSC,” part of the statement read. “The state-gaming agency is doing its best to continuously be of service to the nation, especially in this difficult time.”
The PSC held an online board meeting on Wednesday and tackled the implementation for a social amelioration program for national athletes and coaches while the country faces the outbreak of the COVID-19 cases.
The agency said funds for the program will be sourced from money coming from Pagcor, but added if it can't proceed with the plan since its monthly allocation from the gaming agency has been put on hold.
Pagcor pointed out the amount given to the PSC for the same period of January-March last year decreased by 4.7 percent mainly due to the agency’s lower revenues brought about by the health crisis that led to the suspension of all gaming operations in the country.
In 2019, Pagcor said a total of P1.79 billion was remitted to the PSC, excluding the P842 million grant for the rehabilitation of the Philsports Complex Multipurpose Arena and the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex as part of the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
More so, 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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