Osmeña backs half-privatization of Pagcor

Senator Sergio Osmeña III on Thursday said that he is in favor of privatizing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), or at least half of it. In a weekly forum at the Senate, Osmeña explained that Pagcor is both a regulatory agency and also a promotional agency for gambling. He said that he is in favor of privatizing the business part of Pagcor which runs casinos. "We have to first split that dual nature of Pagcor," he said. The senator issued the statement after President Benigno Aquino III said that he is thinking of selling Pagcor. Osmeña said that the business part of the agency should be privatized to avoid a monopoly of the gambling business. "The big anomaly is that we have these two duties cited under one body. So there's a conflict of interest," he explained. He added that the government should always be in control of the regulatory part to avoid the proliferation of gambling without a regulatory agency Pagcor was created in 1977 by virtue of Presidential Decree 1067-A, and was amended by PD 1869 on July 11, 1983, later known as the Pagcor Charter. The charter was further amended through Republic Act No. 9487 in 2007, extending the Pagcor franchise for another 25 years. Pagcor was created to regulate casino gaming in the country, to raise funds for the governments' socio-civic and national development efforts, and to help boost the country's tourism industry. It operates 13 casinos in 10 major cities across the Philippines, along with 28 satellite casinos, 24 VIP Clubs, and four arcades. Osmeña said that the government can probably sell Pagcor for about P350 million. "That will at least cover the deficit for one year," he said. —Kimberly Jane T. Tan/JV, GMANews.TV