THE administration of President Marcos Jr. has made up its mind to privatize or sell to the highest private bidder the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), a government corporation that is one of its cash cows.
Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengco told the committee on appropriations in the House of Representatives that the plan to sell Pagcor’s 45 casinos nationwide will be fulfilled in 2025, as President Marcos has already approved it. Tengco added that the government expects some P60 billion to P80 billion proceeds from such sale.
The idea of selling Pagcor casinos has been circulating in government and media circles for some time now. Businessmen who are always in search of good strategic investments are interested, and since there would be competitive bidding, the earlier quoted figures on expected proceeds are deemed conservative. Rep. Joey Salcedo, an economist and chair of the House committee on ways and means, believes Pagcor should fetch from P120 billion to P128 billion.
Going by the reports to Congress on the business side of Pagcor, the casino operator and regulator is earning quite well–it expects to post revenues of P72 billion for the current year 2023, based on the first semester’s P36-billion revenues.
Tengco also said the expected full-year revenue for 2023 would be near Pagcor’s pre-pandemic revenue of P76 billion in 2019.
‘Rodriguez and others who oppose the sale of Pagcor are worried that these important social protection measures that directly contribute to the alleviation of poverty and disaster mitigation would stop as a consequence of Pagcor’s privatization.’
This led Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez to wonder: if Pagcor casinos are doing very well, why the heck does Bongbong Marcos wants it privatized?
“So why are we going to sell the goose that lays the golden egg when we have good people at the helm of Pagcor,” Rodriguez said. “If we privatize this, then the regularity of income that we receive from Pagcor will be cut short. Why give the traffic to them?”
The excuse put forward by the Pagcor chair is that privatization was related to efforts that would enable Pagcor to shed its operator or industry player status and focus on its role as regulator.
It is true that Pagcor has this “improper” status in the casino industry, that of being the regulator and the regulated entity although we are not sure if Tengco’s claim that it is the only such arrangement in the world.
Congressman Rodriguez sees nothing wrong with this dual status as given by the Pagcor charter, making this gaming institution unique. Instead of getting its annual budget from Congress, Pagcor has become self-sustaining. It remits a huge amount yearly to the national treasury and even has extra funds for corporate social responsibility activities, such as disaster relief operations, construction of multi-purpose evacuation centers, medical assistance, construction of school buildings, and support for sports.
Rodriguez and others who oppose the sale of Pagcor are worried that these important social protection measures that directly contribute to the alleviation of poverty and disaster mitigation would stop as a consequence of Pagcor’s privatization.
We recognize, too, that with gaming under purely corporate ownership and management, the social assistance activities that tend to lessen the essential evils associated with gambling would disappear, making this activity a purely business endeavor whose profits are assured by its own rules.
