Genuinos ask DOJ to lift hold departure order

(Updated 11:26 a.m.) Former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chairman Efraim Genuino and his two children asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday to lift the order that bars them from leaving the Philippines as they face a string of corruption charges. Genuino and children Erwin Genuino and Sheryl-Genuino See, through their lawyers, filed a letter to ease the hold departure order that the Bureau of Immigration, an attached agency of the DOJ, issued against them last July 23. The Genuinos were represented by their lead counsel, Ramon Esguerra, a former Justice undersecretary. In a seven-page letter addressed to DOJ Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III, the Genuinos said the issuance of the order violated their right to due process and their constitutional right to travel. They likewise asserted that the DOJ can only issue hold departure orders (HDOs) on matters of national security, public safety, and public health. The Genuinos also said the DOJ circular that became the basis for the issuance of the hold departure order against them could open the floodgates of the issuance of HDOs against other respondents in criminal complaints filed with the DOJ. "Your Circular, we submit, is a tool for abuse as an HDO can be issued by the mere filing of a criminal complaint even in the absence of fidning of probable cause or that there exists a threat to national security, public health, or public safety," said the Genuinos. "The Circular opens the door to the indiscriminate issuance of HDOs causing prejudice, if not misery to the parties affected," they added. They added that the order was issued against them and seven other respondents even if a total of 27 respondents were impleaded in a criminal complaint filed with the DOJ. "This is pure discrimination and a blatant defilement of our clients' basisc constitutional right to equal protection," the Genuinos said. The Genuinos likewise said the DOJ has been inclined to prosecute the former PAGCOR chair because Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has herself assigned prosecutors to assist the current PAGCOR leadership in building up cases against its former officials. "Considering that your department's prosecutors were the very ones who apparently assisted in the preparation of the criminal complaints against our clients, your independence and impartiality are highly questionable and already compromised," they said. They then decried that they cannot get a fair treatment at the DOJ. "From the investigating prosecutor to Sec. De Lima, this department's obvious tact to prosecute and persecute our clients canot be ignored. Clearly, this department has taken the role of investigator, prosecutor, judge and executioner, which is opposed to its avowed observance of impartiality, fair play, and due process," the Genuinos said. Cases vs Genuinos, ex-PAGCOR officials Since June, the current PAGCOR leadership under incumbent chair Cristino Naguiat Jr. has filed a wave of criminal suits against Genuino, his relatives, and former officials of the state-owned gaming firm. The first graft and malversation complaint, filed with the DOJ, stemmed from the alleged misuse of P26.7 million fund for the production of the movie "Baler." PAGCOR shouldered the production cost of the movie, which was supposed to have been paid by BIDA Productions, where Genuino's son, Erwin, was an executive producer. The second set of graft and corruption complaints was filed last June the Office of the Ombudsman. The current PAGCOR leadership said Genuino and former officials of the state-owned gaming firm misused about P34 million in financial assistance meant for Filipino athletes. Meanwhile, the third complaint consisted of plunder, graft, and malversation charges. Filed last July, the complaint questioned the P186 million used to fund the anti-drug campaign of BIDA Foundation Inc., whose officials were also former PAGCOR officials. BIDA Foundation also ran as a party-list group in the May 2010 elections and had Genuino's daughter, Sheryl, as its first nominee. In the fourth complaint, Genuino was accused of using rice donations for the mayoral bids of his two sons in the May 2010 elections. PAGCOR alleged that of the 300 metric tons of rice donated by Japan's Aruze Corp., 105 metric tons were received and used by PAGCOR as campaign giveaways. Coffee scam In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, President Benigno Aquino III bared that PAGCOR spent about P1 billion for coffee alone. A day later, Naguiat detailed the supposed anomalous coffee transactions under his predecessor, Genuino. Naguiat said that the bulk of the P1-billion expenditure was given to Promolabels Specialty Shop, a company owned by Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan, wife of Johnny Tan. Tan is Genuino's friend and the second nominee of BIDA party-list. Naguiat said that Promolabels was not registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and that Manalo-Tan used her maiden name "Lot Manalo" in signing the contract with PAGCOR to operate Figaro coffee shops in Parañaque, Angeles City, Heritage, Olongapo City, Manila Pavilion, Tagaytay and the former Casino Filipino Silahis. Promolabels received P700 billion of the P1-billion coffee expenditure, Naguiat added. — RSJ, GMA News