PCSO: Alcuaz also accepted gift checks

A ranking official of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office expressed surprise and disappointment over the graft case filed by PCSO director Jose "Linggoy" Alcuaz for the release of P12,000 in gift checks as a performance incentive for employees, even though he also received these checks.

"If the check was illegal, Alcuaz should not have accepted the incentive," said Conrado Zabella, assistant general manager for online lotto.

Zabella said official documents show that Alcuaz received P12,000 in gift checks through his aide, identified as Orly Gopiz.

Israel Estrella, assistant general manager for corporate planning, said three other directors — Margie Juico, Restituto de Quiros, and Vicky Garchitorena — also received their gift checks.

"How can director Alcuaz say there is no board approval, when he himself received a gift check?" Estrella asked.

Zabella said the gift check was a performance incentive given to PCSO officials, members of the board and rank and file employees to recognize their effort in contributing to the significant increase in lotto sales, which overshot the P7-billion revenue target for lotto sales last year.

"Our total reached P8.8 billion last year, compared to P6.9 billion in 2001. This is the first time that PCSO has exceeded its revenue target," Zabella said.

He noted that the filing of graft charges against five assistant general managers and other key officials has caused demoralization in the ranks of PCSO officials and employees.

"Instead of being productive, we now spend our time answering these charges before the Ombudsman. It’s really depressing," Zabella said.

He noted that the whole transaction passed all the legal procedures and was duly approved by the board, as certified by the board secretary.

"Alcuaz is trying to mislead the public and Ombudsman (by saying) there was no board resolution when in fact it was deliberately tackled and approved by the board," Zabella said.

He added that the board resolution has yet to be signed in the next board meeting as a matter of procedure.

Alcuaz, in his complaint, claimed that he did not remember signing the approval for the gift checks to be given away as performance incentives.

Zabella said their role was only to request for the grant of the employees’ request for these incentives.

"There was nothing illegal in the transaction," he said.

Alcuaz’s allegations about the illegality of the release of these gift checks have prompted some 1,600 managers and employees of PCSO to call for his immediate ouster.

The managers and employees, irked by what they called "baseless allegations" against PCSO chairman Ma. Livia de Leon and claims that their Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) is illegal, have signed a manifesto urging President Arroyo to sack Alcuaz for tainting the PCSO’s image.

The COLA, according to Alcuaz, was given to employees in the form of gift checks instead of in cash, without a board resolution authorizing the use of gift checks.

Employees walked out from a flag ceremony at PCSO recently when Alcuaz began to address them.

The manifesto alleged that Alcuaz’s accusations against De Leon were baseless and generated negative publicity that may have eroded the public trust built by the agency through the years.

Upon learning of the manifesto, Alcuaz said he will file charges with the Office of the Ombudsman and let every employee refund the P12,000 COLA given to them.

Other allegations made by Alcuaz at a press conference he called late last December resulted in the filing of libel charges against him by De Leon.

He earlier accused her of railroading a P600-million contract for the printing of instant sweepstakes tickets.

De Leon, sister of former Ilocos Sur governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, also filed a libel suit against former PCSO Corporate Secretary Cirilo Avila, who together with Alcuaz, has accused her of graft, corruption and mismanagement.

She denied accusations that she railroaded the contract, as alleged by Alcuaz.

De Leon said Alcuaz was apparently misled in referring to the Cash and Car Promo sweepstakes, a project conceived by the PCSO to push up the dwindling revenues on the sale of traditional sweepstakes.

The PCSO chairman turned the tables on Alcuaz and claimed the board meeting at the Mandarin Hotel in Makati City held on Dec. 23, was conducted because he insisted on it even as a regular board meeting was held earlier on Dec. 17.

According to De Leon, what was approved during that meeting was the distribution and marketing of promo tickets since the Marketing Sector of the PCSO recommended a distributor willing to guarantee a 100 percent sale of the tickets.

De Leon also denied accusations made by Alcuaz she was delaying the implementation of the P600 million ambulance project.

"This circumstance engenders the well-grounded perception that in making these scurrilous and abusive attacks upon my person, his (Alcuaz’s) agenda is tainted with personal vested interest in that he wants to be the PCSO general manager," De Leon said.

De Leon said the accusations hurled against her was not only in her capacity but also against the government.

"This circumstance persuasively showed that the libelous attacks of Alcuaz and Avila are not impelled by good intentions. Besides, the imputations of Alcuaz and Avila are clearly libelous and malicious per se," she said.

In filing the libel suit, De Leon is asking P30 million for moral damages and P20 million for exemplary damages jointly from Alcuaz and Avila.

Alcuaz earlier accused De Leon and some members of the PCSO board of passing a resolution approving a P600 million contract in favoring a supplier of sweepstakes ticket without any public bidding.

Alcuaz told a new conference on Jan. 2 that the PCSO board passed the resolution in a meeting held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City last Dec. 23.

He claimed De Leon and the board did not even bother to notify him about the meeting.

Alcuaz also accused De Leon of delaying the implementation of the P600 million ambulance purchase program and the disbursement of P282 million for the Ospital ni Erap program and another P282 million in hospital equipment meant for the Philippine National Police.