Pagcor was tops in 1995 and 1996, but slid to second place in the next three years. "With our performance, we will regain the number one slot in terms of profit," Genuino said. A non-gambler, Genuino says he doesn’t need to be one to run Pagcor profitably. Pagcor’s record-breaking monthly incomes stem from purely good business sense and the resolve to reach the objective – sans the complex formulas and methodologies so fiercely espoused by highly educated technocrats.
For this year, Pagcor has trained its sight on a record-setting P16.15-billion. At the rate the firm is going, it will get there even before the year is over. "He is likely to exceed that P16-billion goal," said journalist Tony Lopez. Genuino, indeed has the uncanny ability to break records, and he has his credentials as a former insurance underwriter to prove it.
Under his stewardship, which began in January or a week after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over the failed Estrada administration, Pagcor has already chalked up P9.92 billion gross from January to July this year, which is 22 percent higher than the P8.17 billion registered for the same seven-month period last year.
By simply maintaining its average monthly of P1.4 billion, Pagcor will indubitably hit its target. Because of its sterling performance under Genuino’s leadership, government has indefinitely shelved its plan to offer Pagcor shares to the public.
On the shorter term, he plans to increase the number of Filipino Casinos to 30 to cover nine more progressive provinces. He even hints at having a casino in each of the 80 cities nationwide.
The E-City, designed to give Manila the enviable distinction of being "Asia’s gaming capital," will be built on a 64-hectare reclaimed property along scenic Roxas Boulevard to the tune of $15 billion.
Architects and engineers led by Neitherlands-trained Jeremias Cruz are now putting the finishing touches to the masterplan of the E-City project consisting of three large casinos, six theme parks, a five-hectare marina, a 10-5 hectare indoor rainforest, a man-made beach and lagoon, shopping malls covering 7.4 hectares, plush offices and high-end residential condominiums and an 80-storey tower that will lord it over the area’s skyline.
As envisioned, the satellite city will be services by an elevated mass transit to make it accessible to the general public.
"It will be Asia’s biggest gaming complex that will place Manila on the world map as the largest entertainment center in Asian" Genuino says.
"Families out for fun and adventure will find everything they are looking for at the Entertainment City, including cultural and educational excursions. There will be total entertainment," he adds.
The Manila Bay reclamation site is already host to a number of expensive projects being pursued by the country’s leading developers and industrialists, notably Henry of the Shoemart chain who was 60 hectares in the area, George SK Ty of Metrobank, Tan Yu of Manila Properties with 183 hectares and the controversial Amari Coastal Bay Development Corp. with owns 750 hectares.
Pagcor has earmarked P7 billion as its equity for the construction of the proposed E-City, with the rest of the project cost coming from a host of international partners Genuino discloses that negotiations are currently underway with prospected investors from the United States, Japan, England, Australia and China who have extensive experience in the management and operations of hotels, shopping malls and theme parks.
He insists that casino is a wholesome entertainment facility, provided people play with moderation. He cannot be more right as anything excessive can only be destructive.
As top manager of Pagcor, Genuino has the responsibility to help prop up a cash-strapped government. As the state’s third biggest money-maker next to the Bureau of internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs, the government counts on Pagcor for financial support.
Out of its P9.92 billion gross for January to July, Pagcor remitted a total of P592 million to the national treasury and its beneficiary-agencies. The President’s Social Fund alone got P597 million, while the Philippine Sports Commission received P210 million. On the social welfare department, Pagcor wants to light up the life of Metro Manilans with the installation of adequate lighting systems along the entire stretch of Roxas Boulevard and portions of Circumferential Road 5.
Construction of some 100 world-class public toilets-for-hire throughout Metro Manila is also being vigorously pursued. Genuino says they intend to finish at least 10 of such facility by year-end, with 10 more toilets set up every three months thereafter.
These comfort rooms, with each unit expected to generate P2,000 to P3,000 daily that will go to the coffers of the police forces in the metropolis, who will manage and maintain them.
When Pagcor vacates its present offices on Roxas Boulevard near corner Padre Faura street to move to a better, larger edifice, the old building will be converted into a Pagcor Academy meant to produce professional card dealers and other casino workers.
"This school will eventually be a major source of manpower for casinos, hotels and entertainment centers worldwide," Genuino predicts.
This entailed the implementation of reforms which has so far been proving to be a move in the right direction.
His initials step was to cut down unnecessary expenses, such as the grants of perks for regular players, but which are largely misused for non-players. This includes signing privileges for casino managers and other Pagcor officials.
Even the proposed purchase of a new aircraft was scrapped, with the savings used to grant salary hikes for the corporation’s 10,000 employees, thereby invariably raising their morale.
The chairman has instituted a package of operational and structural reforms such as modernization of equipment and facilities, increasing the number of slot machines and gaming tables and enlarging the gaming rooms to accommodate more players and guests.
By underscoring the entertainment value rather than gambling, Genuino says the casino patrons have began to appreciate what they are doing, and have been visiting the casinos more often.
For a man with no time for frills and pomp, Genuino appears to be getting the best results from his actions.
Unknown to most Filipinos, Genuino has been with President Arroyo since her senatorial campaign in 1992.
With virtually nothing as start up fund, Genuino effectively steered her reelection bid in 1995 and the vice presidential campaign in 1998. He was hands-on manager of Mrs. Arroyo’s campaign headquarters on EDSA Guadalupe, Makati, including preparation and distribution of sample ballet and mobilizing poll watchers.
For his self-less services, the President did not have any second thoughts about entrusting to him the fate of Pagcor.
Genuino brings to the corporation an impressive track record in marketing, having been a topnotch agent of Ayala Life Insurance (formerly Filipinas Life) in the 70s, breaking the companies sales and collection records one after another that earned him the distinction as its youngest sales manager.
In 1980, he left the company to be on his own, starting off with a meager P2,500 as seen money for pest control firm. He also venture into numerous businesses, ranging from running puny market stall to operating a medium-size grocery.
He mainly attributes his entrepreneurial success to "good public relations," saying without it, no individual can ever hope to succeed in business.
With the help of some friends and associates, he eventually set up the TRACE Computer and Business College in Guadalupe, Makati City.
TRACE, by the way, not only stands for Technological Research Advanced Computer Education, but also for Terry, Robert, Aurora, Castulo, and Efraim – the first names of the school’s incorporators.
From a modest beginning of only three computer units, the school grew with the underlying social mission of promoting computer literacy among public school teachers and out-of-school youth in Makati. It now has branches in Los Baños in Laguna, Fort Bonifacio in Makati and Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija.
With his hands full as Pagcor head, Genuino has left all family businesses in the hands of his wife Aurora, with her grown up children pitching in their 10-cents worth.
Sheryl, 21, a masters degree holder in advertising, serves as an able assistant to her mother in administering TRACE, while Erwin, 20 who is about to finish his legal management course at Ateneo, gives them sound advice pertaining the legal ramifications of their moves and decisions.
Anthony, 18, and Angeli, 14, also try to make themselves useful in any way they can. The father says they have a closely knit family. While his job as Pagcor chief keeps him out of the house most of the time, he makes up on Sundays by ensure that they are together the whole day. Where on goes, the rest will not be far behind.
The family that dines together stays together, so they wait for him every night. "They are the source of my strength," he stresses.
While Genuino is a go-getter business-wise, he was a slow worker as a suitor. He admits that it took him four years of excruciating courtship before Aurora’s love dawned on him. Not one to pass a golden chance, Genuino never let her off his sight again, with their union made even stronger by four lovely children.
There’s no telling how long he will stay at the helm of Pagcor. It all remains at the discretion of President Arroyo. But one thing remains certain; he will keep hitting Pagcor’s revenue targets, set at P19 billion for next year and P21 billion in 2003. Wanna bet?