Recto wants P3 B in casino earnings used for Pagasa modernization
Senate President Pro Tem- pore Ralph Recto wants to set aside P3 billion from the projected earnings of casino operations to be used for the modernization of the state weather bureau.
Recto noted that an expected boom in gaming activities and casino earnings could ensure that more modern Doppler radars would be available for the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Under his proposed bill, state gaming regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) will set aside P3 billion from its earnings to help a modernized weather bureau deliver “reliable, timely, localized” forecast.
Recto said the amount would come from the 50-percent share of the national government in Pagcor earnings.
Recto, who chairs the Senate science and technology panel, said “the ferocious, fickle and frequent storms” that climate change brings call for “a strengthened weather agency which can warn and guide the public on how to respond to threats to lives and properties.”
Recto’s bill places the total cost to modernize PAGASA at P3.9 billion, plus P45 million annually to fund the compensation adjustments and P70 million for training and scholarships.
“We need a personnel retention scheme because more and more PAGASA personnel leaves the Philippine area of responsibility yearly,” the senator said.
Recto said the Senate has opted to tap “off-budget” sources for PAGASA’s modernization “in order not to crowd out other important social expenditures in the national budget.”
“If we need to get it from gaming revenues, so be it. We need the money so we don’t have to roll the dice – or read the cards – in predicting if it will rain tomorrow,” he said.
According to the proposed measure being debated in the Senate, Pagcor funds would help PAGASA procure modern equipment such as Doppler radars, set up a world-class weather data center and other equipment.
“Pagcor funds can also be used to procure communication equipment which would allow PAGASA to use social media to issue warnings that a flood is coming,” Recto added.
Recto said the “vision is for PAGASA to go local” and this would need deploying weather equipment in as many areas in the country as possible.
At present, a string of 10 Doppler radars provides service from Aparri, Cagayan to Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. Five more are being built.
Pagcor gets the bulk of its revenues from casino and gaming operations and from the granting of licenses to private casino operators. In 2014, the gaming agency booked revenues of P39.9 billion and remitted P14 billion to the national government.
Global casino players in partnership with local groups have opened shop in the country. Among the first were Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Resort Casino, Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila, and Malaysian-backed Resorts World Manila.
At least two more integrated casino resorts are set to open in the next few years, namely, Manila Bayshore, a joint venture between Alliance Global Group Inc. and Malaysia’s Genting Group, and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada’s Manila BayResorts. Pagcor regulates all such casinos.