House leader welcomes Pagcor’s disaster fund allocation for districts

House Appropriations panel chairperson Zaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list on Tuesday welcomed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation's (PAGCOR) P30-million to P50-million disaster resilience fund for the country's 243 legislative districts under the proposed P5.2-trillion budget for 2023.

Co, in a statement, said the allocation would be crucial in ensuring the safety and survival of the country’s disaster-prone areas.

“On behalf of the House and Speaker Martin Romualdez, we thank [Pagcor] chairman Al Tengco for agreeing to provide evacuation and disaster resilience buildings. This amount will help each district cope with typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that frequent our country,” Co said.

“This Pagcor provision is particularly significant as the country again braces for two weather disturbances, Tropical Depression Gardo and Super Typhoon Hinnamnor,” Co added.

In 2019, Pagcor allotted P3.5 billion to the construction of multi-purpose evacuation centers in 77 disaster-prone areas nationwide.

To date, 15 evacuation facilities have been completed in various parts of the country.

Likewise, Pagcor provided permanent shelters to displaced locals of the Taal Volcano eruption in January 2020 under its Pagcor Village Project, which cost P30 million.

The project provided 100 units of 30-square-meter houses for the displaced residents in the towns of Agoncillo, Lemery, Balete, and Mataasnakahoy.

Tengco, in an earlier budget briefing, told the House Appropriations panel that Pagcor's income in 2021 reached P35.48 billion and that the regulatory agency' income for 2022 already stands at P26.7 billion.

In addition, Pagcor reported that the agency remitted P7.71 billion for the Universal Health Care (UHC) in 2021 and remitted another P6 billion to the Bureau of Treasury that was used to fund the country's COVID-19 response. — BM, GMA News