Guiao, Gregorio: Billions freed by SC ruling can help PSC fulfill ‘youth’ mandates
When the Supreme Court (SC) rejected with finality the appeals by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the case filed and won by coach Yeng Guiao, it not only freed up billions of pesos for the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
It also provided a path for the government sports agency to pursue a much-needed yet underreported mandate.
“With funds like these, the PSC can fulfill its mandate to get more youth into sports,” Guiao earlier told students during a forum at STI Las Piñas. “It’s not only national athletes who will benefit from this ruling. Maybe it’s possible to build exercise parks or playgrounds that will encourage more kids to engage in healthy activities.”
And it’s something that PSC chair Patrick Gregorio said he will also pursue.
“I agree. We need parks,” Gregorio told the Inquirer on Saturday. “If PSC can help develop wellness and walking parks similar to the academic oval [at University of the Philippines], it will really be good for Filipinos.”
Gregorio said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pointed this out to him when he was appointed to head the country’s sports funding arm.
“He told me, ‘Let kids play,’” Gregorio said.
“We will also push the development of regional training centers all over the country. A province can adopt a sport. In 2026, we will collaborate with state universities and colleges … to strengthen grassroots development and exercise.”
Gregorio said he visited Marawi State University recently and saw that the school has 15,000 students.
“A gold mine for talent,” he said.
The PSC has long survived on diminished remittances, with less than half of what is prescribed by Republic Act 6847 going to its coffers.
The SC decision not only reinstated the PSC’s full share from both Pagcor and the PCSO, but it also entered into local jurisprudence.
In a recent decision involving PhilHealth’s sin tax allocations, the SC cited the Guiao ruling as controlling jurisprudence—affirming that mandatory remittances defined by law cannot be reduced, withheld, delayed or modified by any government agency. This citation confirms that the PSC ruling now guides other national funding decisions.
P33B
Gregorio pegged the potential back pay to as large as P33 billion, which the Court allowed to be paid over 10 years.
But as Guiao pointed out, that will be on top of the fact that the PSC will now get its full share of both Pagcor and PCSO earnings.
“This amount will now go to a place where it will be accounted for and not as a discretionary fund that we have no idea how it is being spent,” Guiao said.
It was a lonely battle for Guiao, who thought that when he filed the suit in 2016, he would have several other lawmakers cosigning the case.
But everyone backed out. Guiao, however, warned that the battle is not over.
“Let’s be vigilant,” Guiao added. “Let’s put the money to good use and build dreams, not destroy or steal them from our next generations.”
“It is a mortal sin if we don’t manage this properly,” Gregorio said. “Let the Philippine Sports Commission set an example for doing right by the resources of government for our youth and athletes.”
