- The Commission on Audit found that PAGCOR failed to remit P15 billion to the government
- This represents part of the 50% share to the government from the state run gaming corporation
- COA said the deficiency was due to a wrong interpretation of the law made by PAGCOR
A report by the Commission on Audit (COA) has pointed out that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) owes the government more than P15.4 billion in remittances to the national treasury.
The state-run gaming company was supposed to remit around P98.5 billion to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) from 2001 to 2015, but only submitted around P72.6 billion, resulting in an under-remittance of approximately P26 billion.
The COA clarified, however, that PAGCOR also had an over-remittance of around P10.6 billion, resulting in the deficit by the company.
“Re-computation, however, disclosed an over-remittance of the 50-percent cash dividend remitted by PAGCOR to the BTr during the same years pursuant to Section 3 of RA 7656 in the total amount of P10.561 billion, bringing the net under-remittance to P15.401 billion,” COA noted in its findings, as previously quoted in a report by GMA News.
According to the law, PAGCOR is supposed to remit 50 percent of its total earnings as the government’s share from this government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).
COA blames the wrong interpretation of PAGCOR to the law, resulting in the under-remittance.
Presidential Decree 1869, which created PAGCOR, requires the agency to submit its share of the “aggregate gross earnings” but the company only based its computation on income coming from gaming operations only and not on its overall earnings.
“The Office of the General Counsel, Legal Services Sector of this Commission, clarified in its Memorandum dated June 29, 2015 that jurisprudence dictates that when we speak of the ‘gross earnings’, we mean the entire earnings or receipts of such person or corporation from the business or operation to which we refer,” COA said in its report.
In this regard, the COA ordered PAGCOR to remit its remaining balance to the national treasury.
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