PAGCOR owes billions to Philippine sports
Now it can be told. The cat is out of the bag. COA just confirmed the fact that PAGCOR under remitted the five per cent share of the Philippine Sports Commission by P1.631B just for 2017 alone. The law, enacted in 1990 established RA 6847, creating the Philippine Sports Commission, during the term of then President Corazon Aquino. If you look at the records then, the late President C. Aquino, really remitted to PSC the 5% of gross from PAGCOR income. Not net.
I know. Cause I was a Sports Commissioner then in 1995 when this changed to the current 5% of PAGCOR’s net income, not gross. Then President Fidel Ramos, the genuine sportsman, visited us personally in our PSC Rizal Memorial office and requested for a TEMPORARY new arrangement. From then on, he requested that half of the 5% monthly remittance to PSC be transferred by PAGCOR to the Presidents office so he could also include other professional sports, such as golf, boxing, etc. But in fairness, he also stressed that in case PSC needs any budget for the Olympics, Asian Games, and other local and international competitions, to merely request his office and he shall automatically grant it, in case we run short of funds. This was a SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. And FVR then kept his word. He gave our RP Sports what was due.
Herein lies the BIG problem. When FVR stepped down, every President after him, Erap, GMA, and PNoy wanted the same arrangement and since they were the BOSS, what else could PAGCOR do but defend their position, even if it circumvented the law. Although under GMA, in 2005, we were blessed to win the SEA Games overwhelmingly for the first time in history. Even if half of the National Sports budget vanished and all we could do was cry down the river every time we came back from the international battle field.
Can you imagine what P1.7B every year for RP Sports can do for the last 23 years? Decent sports facilities, modern equipments, updated sports medicine structures,
International exposures, sports high schools, sports institutes, athletes identification grassroots program, scholarships, pensions for our neglected heroes, and so on and so forth?
For nine years in Congress, I kept hammering this point to PAGCOR but it fell on deaf ears. A voice in the wilderness. Few months ago, in the Senate hearing initiated by Sen. Sonny Angara, on the problems besetting RP Sports, same thing all over again. PAGCOR PROMISED to look into it. Even if the law was very clear.
Thank you COA Chairman Mike Aguinaldo and the Commissioners for saving the future of Philippine Sports. Now you all know why a country of five million Singaporeans beat the hell out of us. Kawawa naman ang mga atleta natin. Don’t blame them. To the victors, belong the spoils. Blame PAGCOR. It’s never too late. Our athletes just want their due.
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