EDITORIAL - Drawing the line

Ephraim Genuino, the former head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., will have his day in court. The judicial proceedings could take years, but the multiple counts of graft filed against him for allegedly using PAGCOR funds to help finance his children’s electoral campaigns should lead quickly to a refinement of rules in fund utilization in one of the largest revenue-generating government agencies.

If the indictments brought against Genuino are accurate, there was a blurring of the line between public and private funds at PAGCOR under his watch. Allegations about the fund misuse had been reported even during the campaign last year, long before formal charges were filed. Genuino is accused of diverting millions of pesos in PAGCOR funds as well as rice donated to typhoon victims by a Japanese firm to his children’s campaigns in 2010.

In the latest case filed yesterday with the Department of Justice, Genuino was charged with graft together with his sons Anthony, now mayor of Los Baños in Laguna, and Erwin, who lost in his bid for mayor of Makati; former PAGCOR corporate communications chief Edward King; and Los Baños city administrator Mai Mai Tado, who is an executive in the Genuino-owned Trace Computer College. An earlier complaint accused Genuino of diverting PAGCOR funds to the party-list Batang Iwas Droga or BIDA Foundation, whose first nominee was his daughter, Sheryl Genuino-See.

The detailed indictments, filed by the new PAGCOR management, should be accompanied by reforms that will bring more transparency in the utilization of gaming funds. Vague rules and opaqueness in fund utilization encourage abuse in the use of public money. This picture is also emerging in the ongoing Senate probe into fund utilization by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during the Arroyo administration.

The Senate inquiry on the PCSO and the charges filed against former PAGCOR officials should lead to the plugging of opportunities for fund misuse in the two gaming agencies. A clear line should be drawn between public and private funds.