DOJ summons ex-Pagcor chief, two sons

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has summoned former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Efraim Genuino and his two sons who are facing malversation charges over rice donations and funds worth over P3 million that were allegedly used during their electoral bid last year.

In a subpoena, the controversial former Pagcor chair and his sons Anthony and Erwin were ordered to appear before the DOJ for preliminary investigation on the complaint filed by Pagcor last July.

Investigating prosecutor Mary Jane Sytat also directed the Genuinos to submit their counter affidavit to the charges during the hearing set at 8:30 a.m. today.

Records showed that the summons were sent last Oct. 27 and were received by offices of the Genuinos the next day.

Also summoned were former Pagcor senior vice president for corporate communications Edward King, and Los Baños city administrator Mai Mai Tado, also an official of the Trace Computer College owned by Genuino.

In its complaint, Pagcor president and chief operating officer Jorge Sarmiento accused the respondents of conspiring to divert to the campaign of the Genuinos 300 metric tons of rice donated by a Japanese firm to the Philippine government worth P1.4 million and P1.7 million worth of operational funds intended for distribution to victims of typhoon “Frank” in 2008.

Anthony won as mayor of Los Baños City in Laguna while Erwin lost in the Makati City mayoralty race.

Genuino allegedly secured the donation of Thai rice from Aruze Corp., one of the proponents of Pagcor’s Entertainment City project.

It was found that of 10,000 sacks of donated rice, only 6,500 ended up with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for distribution to typhoon victims while 3,500 sacks were “withdrawn, delivered and ended up at the Pagcor warehouse in Imus, Cavite.”

Sarmiento also bared that their investigation showed that the remaining 3,500 sacks were replaced with a cheaper variety of rice by virtue of a barter agreement entered into by Pagcor with a private rice mill.

“From that point onwards and up to the rundown to the 2010 elections, several hundreds of bags of rice were repacked in sacks bearing the images of Ton (Anthony) and Erwin Genuino as electoral candidates,” the complaint stated.

Pagcor officials claimed that the repacked sacks of rice were turned over to and received by Trace Computer College, and various individuals representing Genuino’s sons, and the rice was allegedly distributed during the election period to bolster the candidacies of the Genuino brothers.

Sarmiento said the total cost of rice released to the Genuino brothers was pegged at P1.4 million while expenses incurred for logistics (shipment, trucking, storage and repacking) reportedly amounted to P1.69 million.

It was the third corruption case filed against Genuino and other former Pagcor officials before the DOJ. 

The first two involved the producton of the film “Baler” in 2008 and the alleged diversion of funds to the Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) Foundation, which participated but lost in the party-list elections with Genuino’s daughter, Sheryl Genuino-See, as its first nominee.

Another complaint was also filed with the Office of the Ombudsman about the anomalous release of funds worth P34 million to the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association, Inc. (PASA) beginning 2007.

The DOJ earlier issued hold departure orders (HDO) preventing Efraim, Erwin and Sheryl from leaving the country over the string of plunder and graft cases filed against them.