The Philippine government is considering creating a new body comprising members of key departments to oversee the sale of Pagcor casinos.
According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the body would comprise representatives from the Office of the President, the Department of Finance, the Department of Justice, the Department of Budget and Management and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations. It would be charged with handling the technical aspects of the privatization process.
“We have a Privatization Management Office, but Pagcor is a special case,” Dominguez told PhilStar.
“It is the licenses that we are privatizing. It’s more technical. Quite frankly, we admit it’s more technical than what the PMO can handle.”
Dominguez added that a draft executive order detailing the privatization process was submitted to the Office of the President in September and will need to be approved by President Rodrigo Duterte before the process gets underway.
President Duterte ordered Pagcor to sell off its 46 Philippines casinos late last year to raise funds and to avoid perceptions that ownership created a conflict of interest for the gaming regulator. Those sales are expected to begin in 2018.
Pagcor is the government’s third largest source of revenue behind only the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.