PCSO funding for healthcare program just 1.2% of total requirements — DOF

MANILA, Philippines — Contributions from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is estimated to account only for 1.2 percent of the total funding requirement of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a text message, Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino said the PCSO is expected to contribute P3 billion in funds for the implementation of the UHC program in 2020, corresponding to 1.2 percent of the P257 billion budget requirement.

“Of the estimated P1.437 trillion required for five years, P16.6 billion is from PCSO, also less than 1.2 percent of the total budget,” he added.

However, it is still uncertain if PCSO would be able to remit this amount considering the suspension order imposed by President Duterte on all its gaming operations.

President Duterte on Friday ordered the PCSO to cease all gaming operations, pending investigation on the massive corruption in the agency.

With the suspension in place, Lambino said the DOF would first focus its efforts on the passing of a new bill which seeks to increase the excise taxes on alcohol and electronic cigarette products to help raise funds for the UHC program.

“We will focus our efforts on passing the alcohol and e-cigarette tax package for UHC,” Lambino said.

He said incremental alcohol taxes (based on the version approved by the House of Representatives in the previous Congress) is estimated to reach P15.8 billion in the first year of its implementation or P115 billion over the next five years.

This is expected to increase further with the e-cigarette tax proposal in the mix. Under Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Law, 40 percent of the PCSO’s charity fund, net of documentary stamp tax payments and mandatory contributions, shall be used to fund the program.

In 2018, the PCSO generated P63.56 billion in revenue from all gaming products last year, of which 30 percent or P18.69 billion went to the charity fund.

Aside from the charity fund, other funding sources for the UHC program also include the 50 percent share of the national government from the income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), incremental revenues from the additional sin tax collections, and appropriations from the national budget.

Currently, the UHC still has a funding gap of around P46.3 billion after the passage of Republic Act 11346, which increases the excise tax on regular cigarette packs.