´Pagcor privatization to offset potential revenue loss´

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno told reporters that efforts to address the conflicting roles of Pagcor should be prioritized by the new leadership.

Last week, the President appointed businessman Alejandro Tengco Jr. as the new Pagcor Chairperson and CEO, replacing Andrea Domingo who led the agency in the past six years.

“In the short and medium term, there will be no revenue loss because of privatization proceeds,” Diokno said. “The new leadership should consider the worthiness of their move appropriate to their role.”

The previous administration, through former Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, supported the Senate recommendation to privatize the gaming industry.

The privatization of gaming operations of Pagcor and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) was part of the efforts to generate additional revenues to repay the government’s debts incurred during the pandemic.

“Pagcor’s new leadership will have to make their own plans moving forward. They should resolve the seemingly conflicting roles as an operator and regulator,” Diokno told reporters.

However, as early as 2016, the Philippine Senate has raised the issue of privatizing Pagcor. At that time, it was in response to the apparent role of Philippine casinos in the alleged laundering of $81 million stolen by cyber criminals from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In 2019, the previous administration said the streamlining of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) remains on the table as the government mulls over the privatization of Pagcor and PCSO.

These efforts, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) earlier said, are part of efforts to implement structural measures and further promote fair competition in the market.