Trainers’ fee law gone, says Bagatsing

Amado Bagatsing, a prominent lawyer and racehorse owner, yesterday accused Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) chair Angel Castaño Jr. of misleading the public into believing that the 3 percent trainers’ fund is a law that the government agency has to follow.

Bagatsing, recently reelected as Manila representative, said in a statement that the 1948 law on the trainers’ fund has already been superseded by a Presidential Decree in 1974 which freed horse owners from the burden of shouldering the trainers’ fees.

The trainers’ fees, along with the steady decline in sales in the last two years, were cited as main reasons by the three biggest groups of racehorse owners—Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners Inc. (Marho), Klub Don Juan de Manila (KDJM) and Philippine Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Organization (Philtobo)—in calling for a racing holiday that started on Tuesday.

Revamp sought

The group is asking President Aquino for an immediate revamp of the Philracom board.

PD 420, enacted on March 20, 1974, which created the Philracom, states that the trainers’ fund was raised to three percent but this must again come from the prizes, not from the winnings of horse owners, Bagatsing said.

The original law enacted in 1905, also stipulated  that the trainers’ fund should come from 1.2 percent of sales and not from the purses of the winning owners.

Citing Republic Act 309, enacted into law on June 18, 1948, Castaño  said that the “fund (trainers) is mandated by law way back in 1948 and we can’t abolish it just like that. Under the law, we are mandated to have that fund exist for the health, injury and retirement benefits of the horse trainers.”

Castaño failed to mention the fact the Philracom is mandated to source the funds for the trainers elsewhere.

Bagatsing also said that he will open a congressional inquiry into the matter. Musong R. Castillo