A day after former President Arroyo was charged with plunder for the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) it was the turn of her ally and former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairmn Efraim Genuino to suffer the same fate, which critics of President Aquino said were all being rushed as trimmings for Aquino’s forthcoming state of the nation address (Sona).
State gaming firm Pagcor filed before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday plunder and graft charges against three former Pagcor executives including former chairman Efraim Genuino and a casino coffee concessionaire over the controversial P258-million coffee supply contract that current Pagcor officials claimed were excessive.
The overpriced coffee products were supposedly sold in at least five Casino Filipino branches during the term of the previous administration.
Aside from Genuino, charged were former Pagcor President Rafael Francisco, former Pagcor senior vice
president and senior managing head of research development department Rene Figueroa, and coffee supplier Promolabels owner Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan.
Manalo-Tan in a statement said she welcomed the filing of the case –as this will provide us the chance and opportunities to present all the facts and necessary evidences that the court will require from us in the course of the ongoing investigations and similar judicial proceedings thereafter”.
She said that her company has been maligned and ridiculed in public and the company’s reputation has been tarnished as a result of the unending barrage against her and former Pagcor officials in which they have been charged guilty by association.
Malacañang immediately warded off allegations that the administration was behind the filing of the separate non-bailable plunder charges by the Ombudsman against Arroyo and Genuino.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said there was nothing unusual with the filing of the case after finding prima facie evidence.
“They (Pagcor) spent time studying every aspect of it if only to make sure that the case would be able to stand ion court  and it just so happened that they came out with the resolution and filed it just recently”, Lacierda explained.
Lacierda also reiterated that the executive branch of the government has no control over the independent Office of the Ombudsman, adding that there have been three instances this year that saw dismissal of cases filed against Arroyo.
He also dismissed politics as influencing the Ombudsman into pressing more charges against the former President.
Pagcor said the 25-page complaint was initiated by its board which authorized incumbent directors Jose Tanjuatco, a relative of President Aquino, and Enriquito Nuguid to sign and file the complaint.
The complaint stated that from 2001 to 2010, Genuino, Francisco and Figueroa, in their capacities as officials or employees of Pagcor, directed Casino Filipino branches “to enter into concession agreements with Promolabels with a view toward enriching themselves and coffee concessionaire Manalo-Tan through the sale and purchase of overpriced Figaro coffee products, to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people.”
A Pagcor statement said documents obtained by the present Pagcor management revealed that the previous Pagcor board headed by Genuino approved a resolution on May 16, 2001 granting the proposal of Figaro Coffee Company to set up coffee kiosks in its Casino Filipino branches wherein the prices of beverages “will be similar to the prices in the malls.”
Pursuant to the said resolution, the previous Pagcor board gave Figaro franchisee Promolabels concession agreements in seven Casino Filipino branches.
Manalo-Tan signed the agreements on behalf of Promolabels while Genuino and Francisco signed and co-signed most of these contracts on behalf of the casino branches.
Manalo-Tan is the wife of Johnny Tan, a known ally of Genuino, according to the Pagcor statement. “Tan was in fact the second nominee of the BIDA party-list, a political group identified with Genuino, during the 2010 national elections,” it added.
All seven contracts—which gave Promolabels a virtual monopoly as coffee supplier in Pagcor’s casinos—were awarded to Manalo-Tan without public bidding which is prescribed by law. Promolabels was initially given three- to five-year contracts that were renewed and/or extended following the expiration of their original terms, likewise without the benefit of public bidding, it said.
The current Pagcor management called for an exhaustive audit following the discovery of the billion-peso coffee expenses incurred by the previous administration, the bulk of which went to Manalo-Tan’s Promolabels. Pagcor’s audit team discovered that from 2005 to 2008 alone, five Casino Filipino branches paid at least P258 million to Promolabels for coffee products.
The prices charged by Promolabels for its Figaro coffee products were much higher than the prices at which the exact same products were sold by Figaro coffee shops operating outside the Casino Filipino branches during this four-year period. This contradicted the original resolution issued by the Genuino-led Pagcor Board on May 16, 2001 that the selling price of Figaro coffee beverages will be similar to the prices of these products inside the malls.
“For the years 2005 to 2008 alone, 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 franchisees,” the state-owned gaming firm cited in its complaint.
Today, the different Pagcor casinos serve free coffee to all its customers at prices ranging from P9.36 for a cup of brewed coffee to P14.99 for a cup of premium flavored coffee, the statement said.
It resulted in a dramatic cost reduction of casino coffee expenses by about half. This despite an increase in the number of customers enjoying a complimentary cup of coffee at the casinos, it added.
The Office of the Ombudsman earlier filed a plunder case against the former President for the alleged misuse of P325 million fund of the PCSO.
The Ombudsman elevated the case to the Sandiganbayan, an anti-graft court, the first plunder case against Arroyo on Monday afternoon. Likewise facing plunder charges are former cabinet member, top three PCSO officials and four PCSO board members.
The plunder case stemmed from a 39-page complaint filed by former congresswoman and Akbayan Party spokesman Risa Hontiveros, former Brigadier General Danilo Lim, and a social activist at the Ombudsman last July 2011.
As to the plunder charges filed against former Pagcor chairman Ephraim Genuino and three others for alleged anomalies involving multi-million peso coffee concession contracts, Lacierda said that the Pagcor legal department must have taken so much time evaluating the evidence against the coffe supplier and some Pagcor officials, even as he insisted that again, Malacañang has nothing to do with what many see as a bad timing to file charges amid Aquino’s July 23 Sona.
“I suppose it took some time for Pagcor to evaluate the evidence against the coffee supplier and some Pagcor officials. So it so happened, that it was filed only recently but, again, it was left to the legal team of Pagcor to evaluate the case. So, again, that is merely incidental. It has no relation whatsoever to the State of the Nation Address,” he said.