PAGCOR remits additional P6B to Office of the President

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has remitted an additional P6 billion to the  Socio-Civic Funds Project (SCFP) of the Office of the President (OP).

In a statement on Tuesday, PAGCOR said the amount was released on April 13.

With the recent remittance, PAGCOR’s total contribution to the OP alone now stands at P14.5 billion.

On March 24, the gaming regulator said earlier turned over P6 billion to OP, in addition to the P2 billion and P500 million remittances that were released on March 11 and March 1, respectively.

These were on top of the P12 billion cash dividends it remitted to the National Treasury on March 23, according to PAGCOR.

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo said the agency’s remittances to OP are intended for various funding requirements relative to Proclamation No. 922 “Declaring a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the entire Philippines” and the subsequent declaration of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, which was extended until April 30, 2020.

“The recent remittance to OP is pursuant to PAGCOR's mandate to allocate its earnings to finance infrastructure and socio-civic projects,” Domingo said.

“Despite experiencing losses due to the suspension of operations of our owned and licensed gaming facilities for almost a month now, we are doing our best to provide much-needed help to the government during this time of crisis,” she said.

Apart from its remittances to the national government, PAGCOR, as well as its licensees, have also been donating food packs, personal protective equipment and other medical essentials to frontliners, hospitals and communities in the National Capital Region and some parts of Luzon.

The charitable arms of Entertainment City casino licensees have likewise extended direct assistance such as Okada Manila Foundation's P25 million cash donation each to the Philippine Heart Center and Lung Center of the Philippines, and Bloomberry Cultural Foundation's retrofitting of Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and Ninoy Aquino Stadium into temporary COVID hospitals, according to PAGCOR. — RSJ, GMA News