MANILA, Philippines – The issue on whether or not the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has been remitting the correct percentage of its gross income to the Philippine Sports Commission, as mandated by law, is now in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Congressman Yeng Guiao of Pampanga (1st District) yesterday took the cudgels not only for the PSC or the national athletes but for Philippine sports in general when he filed a petition with the Supreme Court against Pagcor and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Under Section 26 of Republic Act 6847 of the Philippine Sports Commission Act of 1990, five percent of Pagcor’s gross income “shall be automatically and directly remitted to the PSC” while the PCSO is supposed to remit 30 percent of its income from six sweepstakes or lottery draws every year to the PSC.
But since October of 1993, Pagcor, based on a memorandum by former chairman Alice Reyes and the “marginal approval” of then President Fidel V. Ramos, has been remitting to the PSC only 2.1375 percent of its gross income.
Guiao, vice chairman of the House Committee on Youth and Sports and a top coach in the Philippine Basketball Association, said it’s about time for Pagcor to remit to the PSC what is mandated by law – which is five percent of its gross income.
Atty. Avelino Guzman, who accompanied Guiao to the Supreme Court, said based on their computation, Pagcor has failed to remit to the PSC close to P4 billion from 2010 alone, and perhaps over P10 billion if the computation goes back to October of 1993.
“It was a practice that was carried on without anyone formally questioning it. It’s in the law. Now is the time to do something about it. Now we are challenging it because that was not the purpose of the law,” said Guiao during a press conference yesterday noon.
“It always comes up in hearings that sports does not have enough funds, and that the PSC is not receiving from Pagcor what the law says. We want to rid the PSC of that excuse. That each time they come to a hearing, ‘Kulang kasi kami sa budget,’” said Guiao.
“We should have fought for this long ago. But this is the right time. There’s nothing political or personal with this move. Once the PSC gets from Pagcor what is mandated by law, there will be no more excuses,” added Guiao, who was joined by his chief of staff, Ramon Navarra Jr.
Also present during the press conference were PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez and PSC executive director Atty. Guillermo Iroy.
The PSC, from one administration to another over the past 20 years, has cited the lack of budget as the reason or excuse behind the country’s failure to deliver in major international competitions like the SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympics.
The Philippines, with a population of 100 million, has never won the gold in the Olympics, its last Olympic medal, a silver, coming in 1996 in Atlanta.
In recent years, Pagcor has remitted around P40 million a month to the PSC, but in recent months, Pagcor has significantly increased its remittance to the PSC to as much as P80 million a month.
The PSC uses the money (known as the National Sports Development Fund or NSDF) to feed the close to 50 national sports associations (NSAs) and a thousand athletes and coaches, from their training expenses and daily needs to their allowances and salaries, and fund their participation in local and international events.
The PSC also gets a share from the General Appropriations Act or the annual budget from Congress which amounts to less than P200 million a year. It is used to cover the PSC’s day-to-day operations, the salaries of its officials and employees, other grassroots programs and infrastructure.
Because of the importance and “urgent need to resolve the petition,” Guzman said they went straight to the Supreme Court, than in the lower courts where one year could drag on to 10 years.
“There is transcendental importance and the issues involved are paramount to everybody. We hope it’s not going to be a very long process because what we have is a straight-forward case. There is no other interpretation to this. It’s what the law says. All that’s needed is the implementation,” he said.
“One year will be a reasonable expectation. But it all depends on the respondent. There will be a lot of paper work, comments and memorandum,” he added.