A lawmaker on Tuesday filed a resolution authorizing President Duterte to direct the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to provide funding support to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
In House Resolution 147, Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said with Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office operations indefinitely suspended, “there is an urgent necessity to urge President Duterte to exercise his executive powers and for Congress, which has the ‘power of the purse,’ to authorize the President to cause Pagcor to fund the PSC and CHED.”
Garbin said the PSC and CHED are among the government agencies the PCSO is mandated by law to finance with its earnings.
The resolution also requires the PSC, CHED, and Departments of Budget and Management and of Finance to determine the exact levels of funding support needed from Pagcor.
“It is urgently necessary that the operations of the programs and projects of the PSC and CHED [to] proceed unhampered, considering that the preparations for this year’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games are under way and the collegiate academic year for most higher education institutions commenced last June and the remaining to commence in the month of August,” he added.
President Duterte has ordered on Friday night the suspension of games managed and supervised by the PCSO.
Under the resolution, the PCSO is mandated by law, Republic Act 6847, to financially support the Philippines Sports Commission in the amount representing the charity fund of proceeds of six sweeptakes or lottery draws per annum.
It said the PCSO is also mandated by law, RA 7722, to
augment the funding of CHED in annual amounts the equivalent of 1 percent of
the gross sales of its lotto operations.