PCSO, Pagcor urged to reduce intelligence funds

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has urged the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to reduce the amounts they set aside as intelligence funds.

In the course of a House appropriations committee hearing, Rodriguez said he could not understand why the two gaming entities need funds for intelligence gathering.

He said Pagcor and PCSO are not military and police agencies and should not set aside funds for intelligence purposes.

He said such funds could better be used for charity, like the grant of medical assistance to the poor, which he added is part of the job of PCSO and Pagcor.

He suggested that if the two agencies need to spy on and investigate syndicates and people victimizing them, they should leave that task to the police.

Responding to Rodriguez’s appeal, PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said that their intelligence funds were down to P10 million from P360 million during the Arroyo administration.

He said he and PCSO chair Margarita Juico share the P10 million at P5 million each, but that they use only P3 million of their respective allocation.

Former President Arroyo and several PCSO board members and officers are facing criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly misusing the agency’s intelligence budget.

Each board member used to have his or her own intelligence funds, which they did not have to account for in detail.

Rojas also informed Rodriguez and the appropriations committee that PCSO’s public relations and advertising budget has gone down to P275 million from P1.8 billion during the Arroyo regime.

He said they are trying to pare down such expenses every year.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue had filed tax evasion charges against movie director Carlo Caparas in connection with more than P1 billion he received from the previous PCSO board for a film production.

Pagcor officials did not say how much they have in intelligence budget, but the agency is believed to have hundreds of millions in such funds.

Their financial report did not indicate such funds. It reflected only their earnings, expenses, how much they give to the national government and other agencies, and tax payments.