The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) said it had increased its cash dividend donations to the National Treasury by P5 billion bringing the total to P17 billion ($340.9 million) for 2019.
The regulator said the latest remittance is mainly to assist the government in its fight against Covid-19.
On March 23, 2020, PAGCOR turned over P12 billion to the state coffers. It said that it is now the third-highest contributor of cash dividends for 2019 among the government-owned and controlled corporations, next to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The additional dividend remittance, which was recently requested by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, was taken from PAGCOR’s 2019 net earnings and accumulated retained earnings in 2018.
"There's a need to infuse more funds to the government's effort in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. With our latest cash dividends remittance, we hope to contribute more significantly to that cause. We might have suffered huge revenue losses but we can't afford to lose the fight against this global health crisis," PAGCOR Chair Andrea Domingo stated.
Apart from the cash dividends, PAGCOR has initially released a total of P14.5 billion to the Socio-Civic Projects Fund of the Office of the President (OP) from March to April 2020.
PAGCOR, as well as its licensees also donated food packs, personal protective equipment and other medical essentials to frontliners, hospitals and communities in the National Capital Region and some parts of Luzon.
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