Philracom chief, six others face graft charges

Seven officials of the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom), including its chairman, were charged yesterday with graft and misuse of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged "overpayment" of prize money for winning horses.

Racehorse owner William Dagan, the complainant, urged Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo to conduct an investigation of purported irregularities in Philracom, where racing clubs Sta. Ana and San Lazaro supposedly get "advances" on the prize money which are not deducted from the total winnings.

Philracom is a government agency created pursuant to Presidential Decree 420, which regulates, controls and supervises horserace clubs like the Philippine Racing Club (PRC) in Makati City and the Manila Jockey Club in Carmona, Cavite.

Named respondents in the complaint were Philracom chairman Jaime Dilag, commissioners Eduardo Jose, Rogelio Tandiama, Reynaldo Fernando, Vergel Cruz and Eduardo Domingo Jr. and assistant director Romeo Buencamino.

In his 11-page complaint, Dagan claimed to have "personal knowledge" of the modus operandi of Philracom officials wherein an "erstwhile unheard of memorandum of agreement" is made with franchise holders — PRC or Manila Jockey Club — to get the prize money "in advance."

He revealed, however, that contrary to the standard agreement practiced for decades wherein the prize of the racehorse owner for each race was subtracted from the total prize money, Philracom seems to have been paying more without deducting the advanced funds, giving the clubs "unwarranted benefits."

For 2003 and 2004 alone, Dagan said the government lost P28.6 million in "deliberate overpayment" to racing clubs San Lazaro and Sta. Ana. Attached to the charge sheet were several Philracom checks, vouchers and other official documents submitted as evidence.

The complainant noted that Philracom paid two racehorse clubs a total of P69.5 million for the same period, or "P28.6 million more than what it should have been." This, he said, makes the government officials liable for graft and malversation.

Dagan said the officials violated several provisions of the Anti-Graft Law, or Republic Act 3019, among them the existence of "evident bad faith and/or gross inexcusable negligence, causing undue damage and injury to the national government."

He also charged that Philracom illegally used public funds by hiring a private public relations firm, which receives P100,000 monthly apart from the P175,000 in reimbursements it requested last year, allegedly for Dilag’s "promotional expenses."