Ex-Pagcor chief, 4 others sentenced to 100 years in prison for graft

National

THE former chief of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and four other former executives of the state gaming agency were sentenced to over 100 years of imprisonment for multiple counts of graft and malversation.

The Sandiganbayan Third Division found Efraim Genuino, former Pagcor president and chief operating officer Rafael Francisco, former senior vice president for administration Rene Figueroa, former SVP for corporate communications services Edward King and former assistant vice president for the internal audit Valente Custodio guilty of five counts each of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a report by Philstar said.

The five former Pagcor officials were implicated in alleged misuse of P50.05 million in agency funds. They were also convicted of five counts of malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.

The Sandiganbayan ruled that the prosecution, led by the Office of the Ombudsman, sufficiently proved that the five ex-Pagcor officials conspired in the irregular disbursement of P50.05 million in agency funds between 2005 and 2008.

These disbursements were allegedly used to purchase tarpaulins, shirts, caps and other promotional items, as well as fund activities of the BIDA Foundation, an organization founded by Genuino in 2003.

The court noted thje purchases did not undergo public bidding as the accused officials resorted to “shopping” or small-value procurement without valid justification.

“Most notably, there was a lack of public bidding. The huge amounts disbursed for BIDA members’ identification cards and pins (i.e., P2,315,625; P771,875 and P8,820,000) all exceeded the threshold amount that would warrant resort to alternative modes of procurement,” the Third Division’s decision read.

However, Genuino and his co-accused were acquitted of 14 other counts of graft and 15 counts of malversation related to separate transactions.