Guiao calls on Pagcor ‘to restore 5% share to sports commission

TOkyo—former Pampanga congressman Joseller “Yeng” Guiao called on government to restore the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) full share from the earnings of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) “to sustain the gains made by national athletes in the country’s best Olympic finish in history.”

Guiao, a many-time men’s national basketball team coach, made the call as the Philippine campaign winds down in Tokyo where a 19-athlete delegation assured the country’s first four-medal haul in 97 years of Olympic participation.

Guiao, then a congressman representing the First District of Pampanga, petitioned the Supreme Court in 2016 seeking to require both Pagcor and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to remit their proper contributions to the PSC.

Republic Act 6847, the law that created the PSC, mandates the

Pagcor to remit 5 percent of its gross income to the government sports agency, while PCSO is supposed to remit 30 percent of earnings from six sweepstakes or lottery draws per annum.

But beginning 1993, Pagcor has unilaterally brought down its contribution to just 2.1375 percent of its gross income, on the strength of an Executive order from the Office of the President handed down during the time of Fidel V. Ramos.

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino presents a plaque of appreciation to Yoshihito Okinaga, President and CEO of Teikyo University where gymnast Carlos Yulo (left) has trained all these years. At right is Gymnastics Association of the Philippines President Cynthia Carrion Norton.