Genuino, 2 children placed on hold-departure order

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino, his two children and seven others were placed in the hold departure order of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday stemming from charges of graft and corruption.

BI spokesperson Tonette Bucasas-Mangrobang said they have included Genuino, his children Erwin Genuino and Sheryl Genuino-See in the hold departure order (HDO) list issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Mangrobang said they have also included former Pagcor chief operating officer and president Raphael Francisco; former Pagcor vice president for corporate communications and services department Edward King; former Pagcor executive vice president Rene Figueroa; former Pagcor vice president for legal department Carlos Bautista Jr.; Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) party-list nominee Emil Marcelo, former Pagcor consultant Rodolfo Soriano Jr.; and Johnny Tan of BIDA.

“The HDO was issued by Department of Justice (DOJ) chief state counsel Ricardo Paras. The DOJ issued the order, while the BI is just the implementing agency,” Mangrobang said.

She said the HDO was issued in connection to the charges of malversation, graft and plunder charges filed against them.

“The HDO would be valid for five years. So this means they would not be allowed to leave the country unless they would be able to secure an allow departure order (ADO) from DOJ,” Mangrobang said.

The DOJ formed a three-member panel of prosecutors to handle the plunder compliant filed against Genuino and 40 others over the use of P186 million in Pagcor funds to support his daughter’s congressional bid in last year’s polls.

Pagcor filed graft and malversation charges against Genuino, his son Erwin and several others for misusing P26.7 million of its funds.

Genuino was accused of unauthorized release of funds to produce the movie “Baler” in a joint production of BIDA Productions and VIVA Communications Inc.

There were also allegations against Erwin that he benefited from the 300-metric ton rice donation by a Japanese firm to the Philippine government during the election campaign in 2010 when he ran but lost in the Makati City mayoralty race.

The rice donation was supposedly intended for the victims of typhoon “Frank” in 2008 but parts of it were allegedly used to boost Erwin’s political campaign.

Sheryl, on the other hand, was the first nominee of the party-list BIDA Foundation in which funds from Pagcor were allegedly used to finance BIDA’s political bid.