The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Investments in casino operations are welcome but stakeholders should not involve themselves in corrupt activities, President Duterte said during a recent forum among Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and it licensees.
Duterte called on Pagcor officials and employees as well as gambling licensees in the country not to engage in graft and corruption.
In his speech during the Pagcor event at the Manila Hotel, Mr. Duterte commended the gambling industry for boosting the country’s economy but reminded them to stay away from corruption.
“I can give you the assurance, we welcome you. I thank you for the income that we are earning from the gambling community,” Duterte said.
“I want to stress again the point that you can come in, expand, do business peacefully but please avoid graft and corruption whether you are the giver or the receiver,” he added.
He reiterated that he would not show mercy to corrupt government officials and encouraged businessmen to report them either directly to him or to his officials or through the Citizens’ Complaint Hotline 8888.
“Please do not give them the luxury of extortion. All you have to do is you can call anybody in government… And I will take care of it,” he said.
“All I have to do is for you to cooperate and I said do not give in to extortionist. Be it
the police, the BIR, Customs, because when I learn of it, I’ll make it hard for you,” he added.
He noted that corruption in government must be stopped because it was pulling the country down.
As part of his continuing efforts to rid the government of corruption, the Chief Executive announced his plan to fire more government officials and policemen in the coming days.
“I am in the thick of firing people. I intend to fire another maybe 70 or 49 policemen and three generals for corruption,” he said adding that he might be spending his remaining four years in cleaning up corruption in government.
“In the next few days, this is really a purging regime,” the President said.
“It would appear that there’s a second chairman who might be replaced because of graft,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque regarding Mr. Duterte’s announcement.
Recently, Mr. Duterte removed Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator Marcial Quirico Amaro III from his post due to excessive foreign trips.
During last Monday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr. Duterte said he would also include the local government units in his effort to clean the bureaucracy of unscrupulous public officials.
Roque said the President has concurrent jurisdiction even over the officials of the local governments.
“So that his legal basis to remove officials from their posts, not only presidential appointees but also local officials because the President has supervision over local government units. It means he has to make sure that they are doing their jobs. If they are not, that’s a basis for firing them,” Roque added.
Present during the event were Pagcor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrea Domingo, President and Chief Operations Alfredo Lim and other officials as well as casino magnates like magnate Enrique Razon and Dennis Uy.
During the event, Pagcor gathered all its casino licensees from the Entertainment City Manila, Clark Special Economic Zone, Poro Point, Rizal and Cebu.
During the event, Domingo also underscored the agency’s upward revenue trend. “Although the biggest chunk in the agency’s revenues still comes from Pagcor-operated casinos, the licensed casinos also contributed significantly,” she said.
“In 2017, Pagcor posted close to P60 billion in gross revenues. Of this amount, the biggest portion (P22.44 billion) came from Pagcor-operated casinos,” she said.
She added this was followed by the P19.27 billion income from licensed casinos’ fees; P9.45 billion from traditional bingo and e-bingo licensees; P5.50 billion from Pagcor’s share from other gaming licensees such as e-games, poker, junket operations, among others and P3.14 billion from offshore gaming operations.
Apart from the huge revenues from licensed casinos, the Pagcor chief said that all integrated resort casino licensees are required to put up a Cultural Heritage Foundation to fund Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs related to education infrastructure, health facilities, environmental preservation and restoration of cultural heritage.
Two percent of the licensees’ gross gaming revenues from non-junket tables automatically go to these Foundations.
Domingo likewise cited that major projects were already implemented by the Foundations of Entertainment City licensees.
“Because of their CSR commitments, several multi-storey school buildings and computer laboratories were built in far-flung public schools. Two drug rehabilitation centers – one in Davao and one in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig – are being constructed. Also a public hospital in Tacloban and two multi-storey barracks for the Philippine Military Academy cadets were built – just to name a few,” Domingo said.
Meanwhile, casino licensees in other locations such as Clark have also set aside funds for their own foundations and CSR efforts.
Pagcor President and COO Alfredo Lim, who also graced the event, said that as the country’s gaming regulator, it is the goal of Pagcor to see all gaming industry players increase their level of competitiveness and tap a larger regional client base.
“But as we ride on the tide of growth and enjoy the opportunities of a larger market, let us ensure that the whole nation reaps the benefits,” he added.