Ongpin wants gov't to use PhilWeb shares for drug rehabilitation centers

Beleaguered businessman Roberto V. Ongpin on Friday asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to use his shareholdings in PhilWeb Corporation to establish drug rehabilitation centers across the country.

The former chairman of the gaming technology firm is making—what he described in an August 19 letter to the industry regulator—a final attempt to preserve the livelihood of PhilWeb stakeholders.

Some months before the its license from PAGCOR was to expire, PhilWeb did a serious study on drug rehabilitation centers and how many other countries in the world were addressing this need, he noted.

In fact, PhilWeb identified a site near Atimonan, Quezon which was used as a staging area during the construction of Balesin Island Club, he said.

Ongpin is pleading for the state-owned PAGCOR to reconsider his donation of PhilWeb shares which the regulator rejected on Thursday.

"I would now want to make one final attempt to save the day for the innocent bystanders enumerated above," Ongpin noted in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, addressing PAGCOR Chief Executive Officer Andrea Domingo.

The innocent bystanders, according to the businessman, are ... the 6,000 PhilWeb and e-Games employees, the operators of e-Games cafes numbers 131 entities and their investments of P1.8 billion.

Social ills of gaming

Ongpin offered to donate to PAGCOR 49 percent or 378,157,449 shares of his 771,749,896 shareholdings in PhilWeb.

In rejecting his offer, after consulting with the PAGCOR board and President Rodrigo Duterte, Domingo emphasized that it was all about regulation—not personal.

"This issue is not RVO or PhilWeb per se. It is the President's and his government's opposition to online and onsite electronic gaming because of the social ills and decay they foist on our communities as they cater to the more economically vulnerable portion of our population," Domingo said in another letter to Ongpin.

The businessman proposed that his donation can be implemented several ways:

• PAGCOR could accept the donation and auction it off after an appropriate period when the true value of PhilWeb shares has been restored.

• A drug rehabilitation agency could be created and proceeds from the share sale funneled to it.

• Or a combination of both with the donation initially channeled to PAGCOR with the specific objective of using the funds for drug rehabilitation as soon as an effective mechanism for the purpose had been established.

The drug rehabilitation agency "... should be managed both by the govenrment and the private sector to ensure the effective use of the donated funds.

"This may ... take time as it may require legislation, although I personally believe it could be accomplished by a presidential order," Ongpin said.

Valuation wouldn't matter

PhilWeb holds a licensing deal with PAGCOR covering 282 e-Games outlets, which expired on August 10. But the regulator no longer renewed the agreement after Duterte vowed to stop the proliferation of online gambling and tagged Ongpin as an oligarch embedded in government that must be weeded out.

e-Games are "members only" internet cafes with software—supplied by PhilWeb—dedicated to casino games.

"At this juncture, I would like to point out that the correct valuation of donation is closer to P20 million than the P4 or P5 billion estimated by the media," Ongpin noted.

"Before PAGCOR's decision not to renew the PhilWeb license, PhilWeb had a market capitalization of P40 billion and therefore half of it is worth at least P20 billion.

"This is the amount which I am personally sacrificing and donating to PAGCOR in the attempt to save jobs and investment losses for innocent employees and e-Games operators," Ongpin added.

Philippine Stock Exchange data showed PhilWeb registered a market capitalization of P12.632 billion based the closing price of P5.66 per share on Thursday

"If PAGCOR is really into its campaign against online gambling, it wouldn't really matter how much the valuation is," Justino Calaycay Jr., head of marketing and research at A&A Securities Inc., told GMA News Online.

"But from a business standpoint, they have to look into how the valuation being offered by Ongpin would help them. PAGCOR generates revenues for social purposes," Calaycay added.  — With Ted Cordero/ VDS, GMA News