Pagcor officials face plunder raps after polls

Officials of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) will face plunder charges after the May 10 elections.

Members of Plunder Watch and Action Against Corruption and Tyranny Now have accused them of "wholesale looting" of the state-run gambling firm.

The charges will be filed after the elections to show that the case is not politically motivated, they added.

Carol Araullo, convenor of Plunder Watch, said they are also seeking the resignation of Pagcor chairman Ephraim Genuino.

"The first order of the day for Malacañang should be to ask for the resignation of Genuino and the Pagcor board," she said.

Araullo said a witness would have attested yesterday to the veracity of damaging documents presented by Archbishop of Dagupan-Lingayen Oscar Cruz.

"Our lawyers said the documents we have are not yet complete so it is better for our informant not to come out at the moment," she said.

In entering into partnership with hotels to set up casinos, Pagcor had violated its legislative franchise to engage in the business of gambling, Plunder Watch said.

Cruz has accused Pagcor officials of giving themselves fat benefits and using a hundred million pesos of the agency’s funds in the campaign of President Arroyo.

On the other hand, Edward King, Pagcor public relations chief, said the firm’s officials will face their accusers in the "proper forum" to disprove the allegations against them.

"These are old issues which have been adequately explained by Pagcor management in the past and are now being rehashed by Pagcor’s opponents for their own partisan purposes," he said.

"We are saddened by the fact that our opponents have gone so far as using the honorable Archbishop Oscar Cruz and giving him false info. Mukhang nakuryente yata si Archbishop Cruz."

In a statement, King said the Casino Filipino VIP Clubs are "For Members-Only" establishments equipped with state-of-the-art "tokenless gaming technology."

"(They) can only be patronized by people with membership cards," he said.

"The common denominator of these clubs is they are situated in hotels with high tourist traffic. As such, it is farthest from our intentions to target the ordinary man-on-the-street. Rather, our VIP clubs cater to tourists with disposable income who seek the thrills of gaming as part of their travel experience in the country."

King said Pagcor has embarked on a "modest" slot machine expansion program to be globally competitive and increase the revenues the agency has been remitting to the national government.

"It must be noted that Pagcor will not be able to meet its obligations to fund more major programs of government if it was not allowed to expand and modernize within the bounds of the law," he said.

"We wish to stress that contracts for (slot machine) arcades call for a straight lease arrangement on fully furnished and fitted-out arcades built at no cost at all to Pagcor. They are not partnerships or joint ventures."

The lease arrangement has been encouraged by the 2002 General Appropriations Act, he added.

Meanwhile, Cruz said top and middle-ranking officials of Pagcor will soon come out to corroborate his exposé of alleged anomalies within the government-controlled gambling firm.

Cruz said he tried to inform Malacañang a month ago that he had discovered anomalies in Pagcor, but that nothing came of it. –Jose Aravilla