Still no jackpot for casino workers on payday
Cristino Naguiat. AFP FILE PHOTO
Every day at work, casino dealer Oscar Alvarez is surrounded by money.
The croupier at a state-run casino handles thousands upon thousands worth of bets, his hands spelling either win or loss, windfall or bust, for clients on his table whether it’s baccarat, roulette, or blackjack.
Come payday, however, Alvarez goes home feeling like he had just lost all his chips.
“It’s like being a baker who cannot afford to buy bread,” he said of his basic salary of just P10,980, as state gaming employees remain outside the scope of the salary standardization law.
“I’ve been working since 1989, but I’ve had no increase since,” said the senior dealer at Casino Filipino in Malate, Manila. “We receive hardly any pay after all the deductions,” he added.
The measly pay is in stark contrast to the P35.73 billion that the government firm earned from January to September this year, income that has been increasing 16 percent year-on-year from 2014, and exceeding its earnings target.
Tips and loans
Amid President Benigno Aquino III’s recent announcement of a fresh round of salary increases for government personnel, including those working in government-owned and -controlled corporations, most employees of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) subsist on tips and loans to supplement their low pay.
The salary increases that, Mr. Aquino said, were meant to discourage corruption and to level government pay with that of the private sector, however do not include casino employees who continue to press for coverage under the salary standardization law.
The tips that Pagcor employees get are pooled together and distributed equitably among all gaming employees across all casino branches, Alvarez said.
Excluded in the distribution are nongaming personnel like the administrative staff. “They have it worse, getting no share of the tips,” Alvarez said, adding that “those who receive big tips from their clients also get incentives.”
As a senior dealer, Alvarez receives roughly P14,000 as his share of the pooled tips. He gets P600 daily out of the amount, with the remainder given on payday.
Retirement benefits
With the pooled tips, their monthly take-home pay might seem decent enough, except that the employees’ retirement benefits are based on their basic pay. “So what’s the use of getting tips?” asked Alvarez, who chairs the Philippine Association of Casino Croupier Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
“Our bonuses and living allowance are based on our basic pay. But especially our retirement pay. And we need good retirement pay, considering our length of service at Pagcor,” he said.
Alvarez cited the case of Arturo Romillo, who recently retired after working for Pagcor as a casino dealer for 25 years. He took home P1.2 million on retirement, or just P48,000 for every year he worked for Pagcor. The retirement amount already includes his out-of-pocket contributions to the provident fund, a savings scheme for state workers, Romillo said.
The situation of Pagcor’s more than 10,200 rank-and-file employees is markedly different from that of its 200 officers, however.
Big bucks for big shots
A Commission on Audit report on salaries and allowances received by officers of government-owned and -controlled corporations for 2014 showed that Pagcor’s Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat earned P7.743 million in total pay.
Of this total earnings, Naguit’s allowances, bonuses and other incentives amounted to much more than his basic pay of P952,032. He received P3.314 million in allowances and P3.477 million in “bonus, incentives and benefits.”
Pagcor President and COO Jorge V. Sarmiento also received P952,032 in wages, with allowances of P3.074 million and, like Naguiat, “bonus, incentives and benefits” of P3.477 million.
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