Ex-PAGCOR chief Genuino, 7 others charged with graft over P37-M swimmers' training

The Office of the Ombudsman on Friday filed graft charges against Efraim C. Genuino, former chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), for the alleged anomalous release of P37 million worth of funds for the training of swimmers who competed in the 2012 Olympics.

In two separate case information sheets filed before the Sandiganbayan, Genuino and seven other former government officials were charged with two counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Named as Genuino’s co-accused in the cases were the following:

• Former PAGCOR president and chief operations officer Rafael A. Francisco
• Former PAGCOR senior vice president Edward King
• Former PAGCOR executive vice president Rene C. Figueroa
• Former PAGCOR vice president Ester P. Hernandez
• Former PAGCOR assistant vice president Valente C. Custodio
• Former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William I. Ramirez, and
• Former Philippine Amateur Swimming Association Inc. (PASA) president Mark P. Joseph

A separate case of violation of Section 3 (h) of RA 3019 was also filed against Genuino.

Based on the information of the cases, checks totaling P37,063,488 were released by PAGCOR to PASA between April 2007 to August 2009 in connection with PAGCOR’s program of funding the development and training of swimmers who were about to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

The Ombudsman said this is on top of the P910,000 that the PAGCOR also released to PASA within the same period, supposedly for paying an IT company, Synercraft Control Technologies, for the maintenance of timer and computer systems used throughout the training program.

The Ombudsman, through its prosecutorial arm Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) said the release of both funds was anomalous as it has not passed prior approval by the PAGCOR Board of Directors.

The OSP also said both funds should have been released directly to PSC to form part of its National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) as provided by law. The PASA is an attached agency under the PSC.

The OSP further noted that the Trace Aquatic Center (TAC), a sports facility leased by PASA for the training program was owned by Genuino and his family.

“The funds directly released to PASA were expended to pay TAC for the use of its aquatic, a sports facility effectively owned and controlled by accused Genuino and his family,” the charge sheet read.

The OSP said the timer and computer systems maintained by Synercraft were also owned by TAC.

The cases stemmed from a complaint filed by the Philippine Swimming League in 2011.

Section 3(e) of RA 3019 prohibits a public official from causing undue injury to any party including the government, or giving any party unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.

Section 3 (h) of RA 3019, on the other hand, prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction that the government is entering into. — VVP, GMA News