THE current Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) administration—just like all its predecessors—is hoping to get what is rightly due for the agency from the operation of government-owned casinos.
Commissioner Ramon Fernandez said the incumbent PSC board wanted the five percent share from the gross revenue of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), and not half of what Republic Act 6847, the law that created the sports agency, as mandated.
“We could only maximize the programs of the PSC if we get the 5 percent gross shares from Pagcor,” Fernandez, a Philippine Basketball Association Legend, told the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at the Golden Phoenix Hotel in Pasay City.
The PSC was created in 1990 and enjoyed full support from Pagcor until 1998 when its share from the casinos was reduced to half. A full 5 percent remittance could go beyond P.5 billion annualy for the PSC’s National Sports Development Fund (NSDF).
The government sports agency is funded by both the NSDF and General Appropriations.
Fernandez said that a group of governors and mayors from Mindanao who attended the Philippine Sports Institute nationwide caravan urged the PSC to call on President Duterte on the Pagcor shares.
“They wanted us to talk to the President so he can put a directive to the Pagcor to make it 5 percent again,” Fernandez said.
“The local government of several provinces in the south complained about the funding of their regional games. They can’t send qualifiers for Batang Pinoy, Philippine National Games and Palarong Pambansa because they don’t have enough money to spend,” Fernandez said.