‘Estrada had nothing to do with Mimosa’

President Estrada had nothing to do with the closure of a casino owned by former Tourism Secretary Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said yesterday.

Zamora said Gonzalez asked to meet with him at a hotel in Makati City in 1998, shortly after President Estrada’s election to seek his help over the financial problems of Mimosa Regency Casino inside the Clark Special Economic Zone.

"Because at that point, Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) was working on how to collect the huge debt which Mimosa owed them," he said.

Zamora said Gonzalez wanted Mr. Estrada to hold back his creditors and order Pagcor to continue allowing Mimosa to operate so it would not be shut down.

Mimosa was closed down by the Clark Development Corp. in December 1998 after Mondragon repeatedly failed to make rental payments on the casino site.

In an official statement yesterday, Alice Reyes, Pagcor chairperson and chief executive officer, said the gambling agency’s board of directors canceled the authority of Mondragon Leisure Resorts Corp. to operate Mimosa Regency Casino on March 28, 1998 or some three months before President Estrada assumed office.

Reyes said Mondragon committed specific violations of its permit to operate a casino, among which are:

• Its refusal to pay Pagcor the correct income share; and

• Its unabated poaching of Pagcor’s local casino market.

Reyes said Pagcor served the closure order on Mimosa on April 1, 1998, but that the company was able to get a temporary restraining order from the Regional Trial Court of Angeles City.

After a hearing, the court later issued a preliminary injunction against Pagcor, and the gambling agency subsequently rejected Mondragon’s offer to pay because acceptance could render Pagcor in estoppel against actively pursuing its interest.

Reyes said the permit issued to Mondragon requires that Pagcor’s share in the casino’s income should be "10 percent of gross income or P75 million whichever is higher."

However, Reyes said Mondragon insisted on paying Pagcor P63 million from its gross income of P630 million in 1997, instead of P75 million as stated in its authority to operate a casino.

Reyes said Pagcor’s monitoring team also discovered that Mondragon was actively poaching on the gambling agency’s customers.

"Mondragon was providing limousine service to ferry Pagcor’s known casino highrollers to and from the Mimosa Regency Casino," she said.

Reyes said Mimosa incurred close to P100 million in debts with Pagcor after the casino was closed down, and that it owed unpaid taxes, including penalties, to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

"That’s the reason why Mimosa was closed down and the entire project was taken over by the Clark Development Corp.," she said.

Meanwhile, Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects Secretary Robert Aventajado plans to sue Gonzalez for involving him in alleged "shady deals" in the Mimosa Leisure Estate.

At a press conference in Makati yesterday, Aventajado presented to reporters a 26-page affidavit in which he denied categorically the allegations of Gonzalez.

"It’s to my interest that I see the Clark development area prosper," he said.

Aventajado said he is filing a case against Gonzalez for damages to clear his name as he flatly denied that he had asked for a 20 percent share in the Mimosa Leisure Estate.

"It is an outright lie, and he well knows this but insists on propagating it to fit the agenda of Estrada bashers," he said.

Antonio Bautista, Aventajado’s counsel, said a case of libel would be filed against Gonzalez sometime next week, along with other criminal charges.

No amount of damages has yet been revealed as the case is still being studied by Bautista.

Aventajado said Gonzalez was a "failed businessman" who had sought his help in reviving Mimosa because of its difficult financial state at that time. — Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy and Pia Lee-Brago