Senator wants PAGCOR charter corruption-proofed

A senator has filed a resolution to conduct an inquiry into possible amendments to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) charter. In Senate Resolution 211, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said PAGCOR’s operations, officers, and funds “must be closely monitored and scrutinized to curb corruption and anomalies within the corporation, as its officers have been linked to various corruption scandals throughout the years." She said the PAGCOR charter should be “updated" so that the corporation’s funds would be allocated to projects that are appropriate and applicable to the “present situation and policy" of the country. Sec. 7 of the PAGCOR charter requires the agency to “allocate and distribute, with the approval of the Office of the President, the earnings of the corporation earmarked to finance infrastructure and socio-civic projects" and submit to the Office of the President a list of all the infrastructure and socio-civic projects “that might have been financed from the corporation’s earnings." Sec. 12 of the same charter also requires PAGCOR to set aside and allocate 50 percent of its aggregate gross earnings to infrastructure and socio-civic projects like flood control, sewerage and sewage, nutritional control, population control, Tulungan ng Bayan centers, beautification, and Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran projects. The PAGCOR charter should be amended to specifically state the priority projects, Defensor-Santiago said. The list of projects “that might have been financed from the corporation’s earnings" is subject to misinterpretation, she pointed out. “[It] presents itself as a possible loophole that can be abused by its officers and therefore should be amended." Defensor-Santiago said said that the charter should be amended to “institute accountability mechanisms" by requiring an independent audit to improve transparency in its operations. Sec. 15 of the PAGCOR charter provides that the Commission on Audit or any government agency that the Office of the President designates shall appoint a representative to audit the corporation. However, Defensor-Santiago said only half of PAGCOR’s earnings are subject government audit and that the charter is “silent" on an independent audit for the other half of the state firm’s funds. PAGCOR was created by Presidential Decree 1869 “to centralize and integrate the right and authority to operate and conduct games of chance into one corporate entity to be controlled, administered, and supervised by the government." PAGCOR earned P25.4 bllion 2006 and has been performing “exceptionally" in the past years, the senator said. — JE/VS, GMANews.TV