No anomalous deal - Genuino

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino denied yesterday that he benefited from a P78-million coffee deal inked during his administration.

In an interview with GMA 7’s morning show Unang Hirit, Genuino clarified that the previous Pagcor board approved the lease of spaces in Pagcor casinos by Promolabels Specialty Shop and not the supply of coffee to casino branches.

He said Promolabels, a company owned by Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan, was not the only coffee concessionaire of Pagcor during his term.

“There are a lot of concessionaires in different casinos, it’s not just Promolabels,” Genuino said.

“What the Pagcor board signed was a contract to lease space in casinos, the customers are the ones paying for their coffee,” he said.

He added that the board was not the one that decided who will be the coffee suppliers but the managers of the casinos.

Genuino also denied that the coffee is charged to Pagcor, saying they get the payment from rebates of players.

Genuino, along with Manalo-Tan and former Pagcor president Rafael Francisco and former senior vice president and senior managing head of research development department Rene Figueroa, are facing P78-million plunder and graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged overpriced coffee.

Documents obtained by the present Pagcor management revealed that the previous board headed also by Genuino approved a resolution on May 16, 2001 granting the proposal of Figaro Coffee Co. to set up coffee kiosks in its Casino Filipino branches where the prices of beverages “will be similar to the prices in the malls.”

The previous Pagcor board gave Figaro franchisee Promolabels concession agreements in seven Casino Filipino branches with Manalo-Tan signing the agreements on behalf of Promolabels and Genuino and Francisco signing on behalf of the casino branches, according to the complaint.

All seven contracts which gave Promolabels a virtual monopoly as coffee supplier in Pagcor’s casinos were awarded to Manalo-Tan without the conduct of public bidding as required by law, the new Pagcor management claimed.

Genuino criticized the new Pagcor management for its “selective persecution.”

“The board was the one who approved the contract but why is it that only three of us were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman?” Genuino said.

Genuino also denied reports that Promolabels was favored by the previous Pagcor management because of his close ties to Manalo-Tan’s husband Johnny Tan.

“I just know him (Johnny Tan) but we are not friends. As a matter of courtesy, all of them (concessionaires) are introducing themselves to me,” Genuino said in Filipino.