PAGCOR Has P24B Short In Remittances?
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has reportedly had a P24 billion short that needs to be collected by the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), the Commission on Audit (COA) states.
In a report by ABS-CBN, the 2015 COA Annual Audit report on BTr, the remittances made by PAGCOR from 2011 to 2014 was shot by P 24, 053,929,.055.82.
PAGCOR states that as part of a special condition the franchise, it said that the government needs to receive the 50 percent share of the total aggregate gross earnings of PAGCORs after the five percent franchise tax has been deducted. It added that the said money will be used for the purpose of building infrastructure and having socio-civic projects in Metro Manila.
The said funds submitted by PAGCOR to the government was short because, according to COA, BTr failed to account and bill the corporation of the money even as COA recommended it to do so in the last years.
The report added that the BTr also allegedly failed to advise the corporation to submit “certified monthly statements of gross earnings.”
According to the financial statement, the gaming corporation should have remitted P76.300 Billion from the total gross earnings coming from P158.1 billion since 2011 to 2014. But, only P50.8 billion was remitted to BTr, as the report adds.
Because of these under-remittances, COA said that it hindered the National Government to initiate and support the implementation of programs or projects.
The Bureau of Treasury already sent a letter to PAGCOR that requires the corporation to remit the remaining P24.053 billion as COA recommends. Also, the corporation was required to submit the certified monthly statements of gross earnings.
In a separate audit on PAGCOR, it is allegedly found that the under-remittance is only P15.401 billion as the corporation had an ‘over-remittance of P10.561 billion.
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