‘Manila careful with charity fund use’

MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Manila is simply being careful in utilizing charity funds it gets from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), Mayor Joseph Estrada said yesterday.

Estrada issued the statement in reaction to a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) that only 28 percent or P78.027 million of the city government’s share of PAGCOR funds, as well as lotto charity funds, donations and endowment funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), were used for charity and other programs in 2017.

 “Its utilization has schedules. We just have to be careful in its utilization,” Estrada told The STAR in a phone interview.

The COA said PAGCOR’s subsidiary ledger showed that the fund has accumulated to P332.88 million as of 2017, but only P75.79 million was utilized. 

Further audit showed that the total PAGCOR funds actually amounted to only P185.25 million.  

Even as PAGCOR approved the inclusion of youth and sports development projects as among those allowed to be charged to the city’s share of the PAGCOR fund, the city council-authorized P3-million fund for the Alternative Learning System ERAP-Eskwela sa Barangay has yet to be used, COA said.

The audit body said the lotto charity fund that accumulated to P90.89 million has remained idle and unused.

Some P1.5 million in PCSO funds were also kept idle in the accounts of the Ospital ng Tondo, Manila Health Department and Ospital ng Maynila,  the COA said.

Of the total endowment fund of P3.5 million for the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, Sta. Ana Hospital and Ospital ng Sampaloc, COA said only P100,000 or 2.8 percent was utilized.

The COA recommended that the local government consider the charity funds in preparing the city’s annual plan for its programs and activities, as well as determine the cause of the non-implementation of the hospital endowment fund.