Cristino L. Naguiat Jr
THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) announced on Monday that it has remitted P5 billion to the National Treasury, the “biggest” transmittal since its nearly three decades of existence.
Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Cristino Naguiat Jr. said the P5 billion was “the biggest amount in a single check ever issued by our corporation in its history.”
With this year’s remittance, Naguiat said, the state-owned gaming firm has fully settled all remaining arrears in cash dividends that were incurred by the previous administration since 2005.
“Pagcor’s total cash dividends to the National Treasury under its current management now total roughly P11.5 billion,” he said in a statement.
Naguiat also said that with its remittance, Pagcor maintained its position as one of the government owned and controlled corporations in the elite “Billionaires’ Club” or agencies that consistently remitted cash dividends of at least P1 billion to the government
He said the purpose of declaring dividends was to be able to return good earnings to the shareholders of a company.
“Pagcor’s shareholders are the Filipino people. We are giving back to them the fruits of a well-run GOCC,” said the Pagcor chief.
It was only during the term of the present management of Pagcor that he said the gaming firm started remitting cash dividends to the government.
Apart from cash dividends, Pagcor said it also remits (on a monthly basis) the 50% government share from Pagcor’s earnings to the National Treasury.
“Our total remittances to the National Treasury in 2014 alone amounted to P14.2 billion,” Naguiat said.
Last year, Pagcor said its total contributions to nation building (that includes remittances to national coffers and its other mandated beneficiaries) reached P21.68 billion – the highest contribution ever made by the agency under Naguiat’s leadership.
Pagcor said it also remains to be the number one non-tax revenue source of the Philippine government.
“We generate income from our gaming and regulatory operations,” Naguiat said.
Meantime, the biggest revenue generators for the government are the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs. Their earnings emanate from collections in taxes and customs duties.
“Under our watch, we will continue to ensure that Pagcor’s revenues will go where they are purposely intended – that is, to nation building and to the Filipinos,” Naguiat said.
“Through transparent leadership and judicious use of funds, we will continue to embark on long-term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. Foremost of which is the ongoing school building project in public schools. We want to leave to the youth a legacy that will benefit many generations to come,” he added.
To date, Pagcor said it has already given P7 billion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Education (DepEd) for the construction of thousands of classrooms in public schools nationwide.
The state gaming firm is currently in talks with DepEd and DPWH for the additional funding for the “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid-Aralan” school building program.
“As early as now we are preparing to construct more classrooms for our public school students for their requirements next school year,” Naguiat added.