PAGCOR: P185-M intel funds diverted to ex-Pres. Arroyo’s ‘pork’

A total of P185 million from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR)’s intelligence funds were transferred to the President’s Social Fund, commonly known as the “president’s pork," during the last few months of the Arroyo administration, the agency’s current chief confirmed Tuesday. PAGCOR chief Cristino Naguiat Jr. confirmed reports reaching Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares’ office that more than half of the corporation’s P350 million intelligence funds in early 2010 were remitted to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Social Fund. GMA News Online has tried to reach the Arroyo camp for comment but has received no reply as of posting time. Lucky districts Colmenares revealed in a budget hearing that the P185-million intelligence funds were supposed to be released to two “lucky" congressional districts by then PAGCOR chair Ephraim Genuino through vouchers. The vouchers were however cancelled, after people within the agency “smelled something fishy," Colmenares said. In a phone interview, Colmenares identified the “lucky" districts as those led by Mrs. Arroyo’s sons at that time: Camarines Sur’s second district led by Rep. Diosdado Arroyo and Pampanga’s second district led by Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey" Arroyo. “According to reports, because the vouchers were cancelled and can no longer be given to these lucky districts, what PAGCOR did was to remit these sums of money to the President’s Social Fund with the intention of giving these to lucky districts," he said during the hearing. According to a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the President’s Social Fund, also known as the "president’s pork barrel," was created during the time of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to require the PAGCOR to remit a portion of its earnings to support the president’s development projects. Used for polls? Although Naguiat confirmed that the intelligence funds were indeed transferred by the previous PAGCOR leadership to Mrs. Arroyo's office, he could not say if the amount were ultimately released to the congressional districts of Mrs. Arroyo's sons. "The only thing that we have is what we remitted to the Office of the President. We do not know how they disbursed that amount of money," he said. Colmenares then instructed the current PAGCOR leadership to check with the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) – which currently handles the social fund — if the funds were “indirectly" disbursed to these districts. “We are rambling here about a few thousand pesos given to so and so, but hundreds of millions of pesos were used for election purposes. These are untransparent ways of spending a lot of money," he said. The social fund was under the control of the PMS from the administration of President Corazon Aquino to President Joseph Estrada. In 2002, however, Mrs. Arroyo issued an order designating an officer-in-charge under the Office of the President to oversee the social funds. In July last year, President Benigno Aquino III returned the control of the “president’s pork" to the PMS. - VVP, GMA News