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Expensive coffee earns ex-PAGCOR chair Genuino and others graft, plunder charges


(Updated The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) on Tuesday filed graft and plunder charges against its former chairman Efraim Genuino and other PAGCOR former officials and coffee concessionaire Carlota Manalo-Tan for allegedly conniving in a P258-million coffee supply contract in which the government lost a lot of money.
 
PAGCOR claimed that Genuino, former senior vice president Rene Figueroa and former president Rafael "Butch" Francisco allowed Tan’s Promolabels Specialty Shop to operate in casinos and serve coffee bought over and above the usual selling price.
 
"PAGCOR's audit team discovered that from 2005-2008 alone, five Casino Filipino branches paid at least P258 million to Promolabels… PAGCOR could have saved at least P78 million if only the prices of Promolabels' Figaro coffee products were the same as those of other Figaro franchises," the gaming firm noted in its complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday.
 
"Respondents Genuino, Francisco, Figueroa acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith and or gross inexcusable negligence by awarding the concession agreements to Promolabels," read the complaint signed by current directors Jose Tanjuatco and Enriquito Nuguid.
 
The former PAGCOR officials were in connivance with Tan "with a view of enriching themselves and coffee concessionaire Manalo-Tan through the sale and purchase of overpriced Figaro coffee products."
 
According to the state-owned PAGCOR which also regulates the gaming industry, Tan's husband, Johnny Tan, is a 'known ally' of Genuino.
 
As of this posting, GMA could not immediately contact Genuino or his legal counsel for comment. First revealed in SONA 2011
 
PAGCOR’s overpriced coffee was first revealed in President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address last year. Under Genuino's leadership, the gaming company spent about P1 billion for coffee from August 2001 to June 2010.
 
It was also discovered that Promolabels, was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
Tan's Promolabels had a three- to five-year contract to operate Figaro coffee shops in Parañaque, Angeles City, Heritage Hotel, Olongapo City, Manila Pavilion, Tagaytay and the former Casino Filipino Silahis.
PAGCOR legal counsel Jay Santiago told reporters in an interview that the gaming firm was able to file a case only a year after the issue was exposed by President Aquino because they had to gather enough evidence to build a strong case.
 
Asked why it coincided with the week before the President’s SONA on
July 23, the lawyer said, “Hindi naman. Nagkataon lang talaga. 
 
“Kung gugustuhin talaga naming madaliin kaya naman, kaya lang ayaw naman natin nang ura-urada kaya ang importante ay kumpleto ang ating ebidensiya at ating mga dokumento so medyo tumagal talaga.”
 
PAGCOR is also studying the possibility of taking four to five other concessionaires to court, the lawyer noted.
 
“May iba pang concessionaire, may lima o apat pang concessionaire... Hindi naman ibig sabihin na ihihinto na natin ang pagrepaso sa mga dokumento at kung kakailanganin ay may susunod pa rin dito,” he said.
 
The other concessionaires supposedly disbursed about P700 million of the P1 billion worth coffee the President mentioned in his SONA last year, Santiago added.
 
Graft and corruption  
In 2011, two complaints of graft and corruption were separately filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against Genuino, other Pagcor board members and officers, as well as private individuals for alleged malversation of P34 million in financial assistance meant for Filipino athletes.
 
Apart from the cases filed before the Ombudsman, Genuino and his children have pending cases before the Department of Justice.
 
PAGCOR last year filed graft and malversation charges against its former chairman and other former officials for supposedly misusing P26.7 million to support the film “Baler” in 2008.
 
In July last year, the former PAGCOR chairman and his daughter, Sheryl Genuino-See, have also been charged with plunder for allegedly diverting P186 million to support Genuino-See’s congressional bid. 
 
Genuino and his son Erwin faced criminal charges for allegedly benefiting from the 300-metric-ton rice donation of a Japanese firm to the Philippine government during the election campaign in 2010, when the younger Genuino ran and lost in his bid for the mayoralty of Makati.
 
Genuino and his two children are under a hold departure order of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) last year, barring them from traveling outside the Philippines for five years. — VS, GMA News
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