PAGCOR chief welcomes raps over e-sabong cash bond  

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairman Alejandro Tengco welcomed the charges filed against him and former PAGCOR board of directors over the alleged disappearance of a P75-million performance bond posted by the dissolved E-Sabong Licensing Department in July 2022.

“While we find it strange that we are included in the alleged charges, we nevertheless will pursue our own investigation and determine what really happened, and bring the perpetrators to justice if indeed there was any anomaly,” Tengco said yesterday.

“We have launched an internal investigation and we are trying to recreate the sequence of events,” he added.

“Former president (Rodrigo) Duterte outlawed e-sabong in May 2022 and the people in the E-Sabong Licensing Department have since been reassigned to other units, so now we are trying to retrace the supposed anomalous transaction,” he noted.

A certain Joaquin Sy has reportedly filed charges of malversation of public funds, qualified theft and falsification of private and commercial documents before the ombudsman.

Sy claimed that he is the chairman and chief finance officer of Kamura Highlands Gaming and Holdings Inc.

Aside from Tengco, respondents include PAGCOR officer Dianne Erica Jogno, former PAGCOR chief Andrea Domingo and former board members Gabriel Claudio, Carmen Pedrosa, Reynaldo Concordia and James Patrick Bondoc.

Tengco assumed office in August 2022.

“While this happened before we came to PAGCOR, the public can rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this, and that we will respond to the accusations against us in the proper venue once we receive a copy of the alleged charges from the ombudsman,” he added.