Gloria’s laundry shop

EDITORIAL

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05/02/2008

Findings of the US State Department that Gloria’s main cash cow, the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), as a rich source of laundered money failed to surprise anybody.

Pagcor has been existing practically beyond the reach of government agencies under the term of Gloria Arroyo.

Even the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) findings in its yearly audits that Pagcor is not remitting what is due the government in the form of taxes and assistances go unheeded, which prompted a Senate investigation on it.

Still, with the Senate probe hanging, Pagcor branzenly insists that it is free of the taxes that are being asked of it.

The State Department noted that Pagcor, even when required, failed to comply with the request of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to submit suspicious transaction reports in 2006.

So powerful this gaming agency has become that it can even ignore that which the AMLC requires it to do. But why is the AMLC that helpless in checking on any suspicious activity of the Pagcor? Is it, like any other government agency, so fearful of touching any and all allies of Gloria Arroyo?

Pagcor remains the biggest contributor to the funding needs of the Malacañang tenant, thus its ability to impose its will on the government agencies.

Throw into this the fact that its current head is an associate of Gloria’s husband and placed there precisely to be within the beck and call of Gloria and her spouse.

It helps also that Pagcor is directly under the Office of the President.

The absence of accountability made it grow willfully into the nationwide money-making machine that it is now.

Practically all hotels in Manila and maybe soon the entire country, to the chagrin of the Catholic Church, have become a conduit of the Pagcor gambling network.

It does not need a rich imagination of people burdened with too much dirty money to start using the casino network for laundry work.

A made-up casino winning is all that is needed for criminal syndicates to legitimize the illegitimate.

Laundering through casinos is simple enough. Cash is taken to a casino to purchase chips which are then redeemed for a casino check.

With Pagcor practically an untouchable entity, detection of a huge volume of money passing through the casinos becomes difficult if not impossible.

The findings of the US government, thus, puts the casino issue beyond the morality battle between the Church and the State.

It enters the dimension of the State being a partner to criminal syndicates, corrupt politicians and terrorist groups, which are the usual beneficiaries of money laundering.

The strategic location of most Pagcor casinos near the country’s airports adds to the convenience of money launderers in transporting money.

What is startling though is the inaction of any government entity including Congress to enforce accountability into Pagcor.

Pagcor is also considered a major contributor to campaign kitties of politicians of whatever persuasion, a kind of protection money to keep it in politically safe shores.

Even the late Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin admitted accepting donations from Pagcor. Other bishops still do, but do not want it known publicly. If discovered, they claim the money goes to the poor, but clearly, there is no accounting or liquidation on these donations.

Sin had admitted “Catholic groups” accept donations from Pagcor.

“It is not the regular practice of the church to ask how the donors got the money they are donating. We only make sure that all donations go to the poor,” Sin can be recalled saying of the Pagcor donations.

The monetary influence wielded by Pagcor thus allows it to get away with practically everything, even from the church’s half-hearted criticisms of the state-sponsored gambling network.

Beyond Pagcor, however, it is logical to deduce that the biggest beneficiary of its virtual invincibility is Gloria.

That Pagcor had also become a money laundering machine invites tempting thoughts.

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