THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) remitted P6 billion worth of dividends to the government Monday, after state-owned firms were ordered to provide funding for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment effort.
In a statement Tuesday, PAGCOR said it turned over P6 billion to the Office of the President’s (OP) Socio-Civic Funds Project, bringing its total funding for the OP to P14.5 billion.
It also remitted a P12-billion cash dividend to the national government last month to bring its total contribution to P26.5 billion.
“The recent remittance to OP is pursuant to PAGCOR’s mandate to allocate its earnings to finance infrastructure and socio-civic projects,” PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea D. Domingo was quoted as saying.
Ms. Domingo said PAGCOR continues to remit funds during the COVID-19 outbreak despite incurring P5-6 billion worth of monthly losses from the suspension of gaming activities.
“Despite experiencing losses due to the suspension of operations of our owned and licensed gaming facilities for almost a month now, we are doing our best to provide much-needed help to the government during this time of crisis,” she said. — Beatrice M. Laforga
