Dividend to gov’t

“From the R1 billion dividends remitted in 2012, our contributions continuously increased, enabling Pagcor to consistently make it to the GOCC Elite Circle or the Billionaires’ Club. These are the corporations that remit at least R1 billion to the government,” Manalastas said.

He also added that from 2012 to present, Pagcor has already remitted a total of R13.39 billion cash dividends to the government.

Under Republic Act 7656, government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are required to remit at least 50 percent of their annual net earnings as cash, stock or property dividends to the National Government.

Of the 54 GOCCs which remitted cash dividends this year, nine made it to the Billionaires’ Club.

Apart from Pagcor, among those included in the Elite Circle are the Landbank of the Philippines, Mactan Cebu International Authority, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Development Bank of the Philippines and Manila Airports Authority.

Others are Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, Philippine Ports Authority and the Philippine Reclamation Authority.

Meanwhile, Manalastas added that apart from cash dividends – which Pagcor started remitting only during President Aquino’s time – the state-run gaming firm has also other remarkable accomplishments during its incumbent management.

“In the past five and a half years (from July 2010 to December 2015), Pagcor generated R221.18 billion in total revenues. Pagcor has also increased contributions to nation-building reaching a staggering R119.09 billion,” Manalastas said.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Far South is the “New North” as all roads lead to Southern Mindanao. Its multi-regional center, Davao City, has emerged as the nation’s new seat of power because its mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, will be the Philippine President from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022.

VIPs, power brokers, and job seekers have been visiting Davao over the past two weeks to meet with the “Mayor of the Philippines,” as the presidentelect prefers to be called. The city’s hotels are enjoying near 100% occupancy due to the sudden boom in tourism resulting from Duterte’s near-landslide victory in the presidential polls.

Visitors have spilled over to adjacent provinces and cities, including here in GenSan. This city’s favorite son, Sarangani Congressman Manny Pacquiao, was proclaimed Senator-elect by the Commission on Elections last week together with four other neophytes and seven Senate veterans.

Cabinet appointments have been announced by Duterte in striptease fashion, with mixed reactions from various sectors. Criticisms centered on four reserved seats for the leftist fringe; conflict of interest issues; predominance of recycled officials from a discredited predecessor; and lack of youthful appointees.

Is the promised change merely lip service? Will the next Cabinet represent continuity just like the eight-point economic agenda? The incoming president defended his choice of official family members, emphasizing they are experts in their fields and are not corrupt.

Most controversial among the nominees to the Duterte Cabinet is presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, who previously handled high profile cases involving jailed Senator Bong Revilla, ex-First Lady Imelda Marcos, and detained former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Opposition to Panelo’s designation as press office head has been mounting against the former lawyer of the Ampatuans, a clan notorious for violent activities such as the Maguindanao massacre in Central Mindanao on November 23, 2009 which claimed at least 58 lives.

Media organizations, including the National Press Club and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, have blasted Panelo’s appointment because of his Ampatuan links. Journalists comprised more than half of the fatalities in the massacre, which prompted Arroyo to place Maguindanao province under martial law in December 2009.

The Justice Now Movement is worried there will be a whitewash of its case once Panelo assumes his post in the Palace. The group’s president Emily Lopez said it would be impossible to find justice because the Ampatuans might be acquitted through Panelo’s influence.

Although Panelo withdrew as defense counsel of Andal Ampatuan Jr. last year, the families of massacre victims remain wary of him especially after he insisted that Andal was just framed up. They pointed out possible implications on the trial of those accused of perpetrating the single deadliest attack on the press in world history and one of the worst incidents of electoral violence in the country.

Relatives of massacre victims have come forward to question Duterte’s choice of press chief. Mary Grace Morales said: “I’m not comfortable, this is not right.” Her husband Rosell was circulation manager of a community newspaper before he died in the massacre. She also lost her sister, Maritess Cablitas, in the carnage.

Nancy de la Cruz, a 68-year-old grandmother, said her daughter Gina was killed in the Ampatuan Massacre at the age of 41. “She was our breadwinner while I looked after her five kids. I sent my grandchildren to the Department of Social Welfare and Development so they can go to school and be fed because I have nothing to feed them as we have not received any assistance. It’s been seven years, until now there’s no justice,” she lamented.

Septuagenarian Maura Montano survived the killing of her son and nephew during the massacre. She asked: “Who is that lawyer that President Duterte will appoint, that Panelo? I will not agree that Panelo will work in Malacañang because of our case against Ampatuan which might be neglected. How about us, what will we do? We don’t have any money while they have so much. Our President Duterte must help us now, I beg of him, as we are struggling.”

Fortunately, the country’s next Chief Executive and Commanderin-Chief seems to be listening. As of press time, media reports came out that Duterte is on the lookout for a presidential spokesperson. He told reporters “temporary lang naman si Panelo.” Hopefully he doesn’t make another verbal U-turn in the coming days.

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of FINEX.

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