Bishop, solons slam 'haste' in passing Pagcor bill

A bishop and at least six lawmakers assailed the hurried move of the House leadership to pass a law extending the franchise of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor). The bill extending Pagcor's franchise is scheduled to be ratified in the two-day special session of the House of Representatives starting Monday. Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz, a vocal critic of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, questioned the "undue haste" of passing the Pagcor bill that would extend the corporation’s franchise by another 25 years. "Pagcor now is salivating not only in looking forward to a generous lease of gambling life for no less than a quarter of a century. It has also generously worked for more corporate gambling possibilities under its dubious nationwide umbrella," he said. Cruz heads the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Sugal (Nationwide Crusade Against Gambling). He is one of the bishops who supported Caloocan City Bishop Deogracias Iniguez' impeachment complaint against President Arroyo. At present, Cruz said Pagcor has no less than 16 casinos and another 10 slot machine arcades, "all luring gamblers and nurturing gambling addicts, no matter the socio-moral costs it is not even enough that it rakes in some five billion every quarter from its gullible patrons." "Directly under the office of the president and operated by five Malacañang appointed directors, if the bill extending the operational life of Pagcor is further approved by House of Representatives, the infamous government corporation is henceforth even authorized to enter into joint-ventures with private corporations," he said. "The bill also legitimizes the devious e-gambling that in reality respects neither age nor status of gamblers", he said. "The eventual winner is the national leadership. The ultimate losers are the pitiful gamblers, the social imperative of sweat and toil, the elementary mandate of sound value system," he said. He added: “This is the perfect picture of an exploiter and exploited. What the administration cannot get by direct and indirect taxes, it grabs by enticing citizens to gamble." Numerical tyranny Cruz also saluted three opposition senatorial bets for trying to stop the passage of the measure. He commended Reps. Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros, Francis Escudero of Sorsogon and Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III of Tarlac for daring to challenge the "numerical tyranny" in the House. "Obviously, they are no match for the numerical tyranny of the pro-administration congressmen. But just the same, the national Crusade Against Gambling salutes A.P. Cayetano, F. Escudero and B. Aquino III!", Cruz said in his web log. Cayetano, Escudero and Aquino are now members of the Genuine Opposition slate. They tried but failed to overcome the numbers who extended Pagcor's franchise by 25 years. Cruz also scored the senators who voted to extend the franchise of Pagcor. Had they not done so, he said Pagcor would have been "cold dead" by 2008. House deputy minority leader Rep. Rolex Suplico on Sunday said there was no need to rush the ratification of the Pagcor franchise that will expire on 2008. “This (franchise bill) should be left to the next Congress which should unmask Pagcor’s strategic partners in the development of the gambling theme park which will be built in ‘Pacgor City’ in the Manila Bay reclaimed area," he said in a text message to GMANews.TV. Entertainment park Suplico along with Cibac party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva, opposed the extension Pagcor's franchise and the construction of the theme park. Suplico said the park will transform Manila into a “gambling Mecca" of Southeast Asia." Team Unity senatorial bet Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, sponsored the franchise bill as chairman of the House committee on legislative franchises. Villanueva said the leadership of Speaker Jose de Venecia wanted the House to ratify the franchise bill even though its content was different from that approved by the Senate. “Again the majority members of the House wanted to violate the Rules of the House. The rules said that we can only ratify a bill when the bicameral committee had ironed out all conflicting provisions in both bills. Why the rush? Villanueva told GMANews.Tv in Filipino. For his part, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casino, said Pagcor is a known source of “political" funds for the administration. “The passage of the franchise bill means fund raising projects for the administration’s candidates." Aside from the Pagcor’s franchise bill, Congress is expected to approve the controversial anti-terrorism bill or the ATB. No incentives Meanwhile, House Majority leader Prospero Nograles denied that the House leadership made commitments to congressmen for the release of pork barrel funds in exchange of their presence during the two-day special session. "Congressmen do not need to be enticed by our pork releases to attend the special session. This media slant gives bad image for our institution," he protested. Nograles said legislators will be attending the special session as part of their constitutional duty and not because of any “incentives". "We will attend because that's our solemn duty to do so. Session or no session, we really follow up with all departments and agencies the releases earmarked for our districts," he added. GMANews.TV