Arroyo scraps slot machine project

President Arroyo ordered yesterday the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to abort its plan to set up 2,000 slot machines in 11 arcades in different parts of the country.

"It is not what is legal but what is morally upright," the President said, digressing from her prepared speech during the inauguration of the Arsenio Lacson Fund at the Manila Hotel.

The President issued the directive after the plan was criticized by both administration and opposition lawmakers.

Opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara had urged the President to prevent the country from turning into a "gambling republic" by rescinding the plan which, he said, must have had prior presidential approval.

"There is no chance that (Pagcor chairman Efraim) Genuino has embarked on this project by his lonesome, without the prior approval of his patrons," Angara said in a statement, referring to the President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Administration Rep. Raul del Mar also urged the President to punish Pagcor officials who are behind the aborted project to flood the country with slot machines.

"They cannot go on pursuing their gambling mania with impunity. They should be punished for trifling with our social and moral values," Del Mar said during a news conference.

He said Pagcor’s plan to set up slot machine arcades all over the country, starting with Metro Manila, "is a disservice to our people."

It would have transformed the country into a "community of gamblers," he said.

Pagcor, in a statement last week, denied that it would put up "slot machines into every street corner and making it accessible to all."

"There are only three slot machine arcades in the country. We have imposed the strictest criteria in terms of location (the arcade should be nowhere near a school) and the age limit (only adults are allowed and proper identification is requested at the entry point)," Pagcor said.

"Pagcor is always aware of the social costs of gambling and will always be sensitive to public sentiments on this issue. We are willing to relocate our arcades if public opposition to them should demand so. Moreover, we have a standing policy of banning habitual or compulsive gamblers from our establishments," Pagcor added.

"We wish to stress that Pagcor is undertaking its expansion program with only one objective in mind: to improve the economic standing of the government and help the majority of poor Filipinos who depend on us for a better life," the gaming firm added.

Pagcor explained that the slot machine project "was merely an attempt to keep the country abreast with the fast-developing technology in the gaming-entertainment business."

Reliable sources said that to counter the "negative publicity" generated by the slot machine project, Pagcor has hired the services of a public relations (PR) man for P20 million.

"A P5-million down payment has been made to the fly-by-night" PR practitioner, one of the Pagcor sources said, adding that the PR man does not even have a staff or a listed office address.

Pagcor, in the statement, also claimed the project was even "encouraged by Congress" as shown in Section 78 of this year’s General Appropriations Act which encourages government agencies to enter into lease arrangements on IT (information-technology) equipment to save on expenses.

But Del Mar maintained that "if we don’t stop or limit this agency’s gambling mania, we will soon become a nation of gamblers" and filed a measure revoking Pagcor’s franchise for the allowing slot machines outside of casino premises.

Del Mar also opposed the new 50-year franchise the gaming firm is asking from Congress.

He said Filipinos’ moral values, the bureaucracy and the police are being prostituted by gambling whether illegal or state-sponsored.

Many in the countryside are becoming indolent, forgetting the virtue of hard work and pinning their hope for a better life on lotto, jueteng, masiao and other forms of gambling, he added.

For his part, Rep. Aurelio Umali (Lakas, Nueva Ecija) said Pagcor does not need a new congressional franchise because its existing franchise expires in 2010 yet.

He said Pagcor’s Entertainment City project in the reclamation area along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City is largely a real estate venture that does not require any congressional enactment.

"Pagcor can undertake the project under its existing franchise. We should leave the issue of renewal or grant of a mega-franchise to the next Congress and the next President," he said.

The proposed 50-year franchise is contained in a bill authored by Rep. Prospero Nograles (Lakas, Davao City).

Nograles said Pagcor needs the franchise so it can attract long-term investors for its planned Las Vegas-type Entertainment City which is estimated to cost $15 billion.

"If we don’t act fast, we might lose these investors," he said as he defended Pagcor’s decision to go into other gaming projects, such as slot machines.

"During times of huge budget deficits, you don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg for the government," Nograles added.

Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said he was inclined to allow Pagcor to put up slot machines in his city but not in public places within the reach of the poor and students.

If he allows slot machines in public places, Atienza said the public would surely doubt the government’s drive againstall forms of illegal gambling.

The mayor described slot machines as the "rich man’s version" of "video karera," a video horse racing game patronized by poor folk but the object of the local government’s campaign against gambling. - Marichu Villanueva, Jess Diaz, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Efren Danao