By David Cagahastian
With the apparent role of Philippine casinos in the alleged laundering of $81 million stolen by cyber criminals from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the issue of privatizing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) has come to the fore.
At the resumption of the Senate hearing on the alleged laundering in the casinos of the Bangladesh funds, Pagcor’s role as operator and regulator of casinos was described as an “anomaly.”
Pagcor President and COO Eugene D. Manalastas told the Senate the state gaming firm was amenable to the inclusion of casinos under the ambit of the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla). But Sen. Ralph G. Recto pointed out that Pagcor’s position on the inclusion of casinos in the antimoney- laundering law would still result in the absurd situation where the state gaming firm will be on the lookout for money-laundering activities that could be done theoretically by Pagcor itself.
“Could you reasonably say that you can regulate yourself?” Recto asked Pagcor officials at the Senate hearing.
In the deliberations at the House of Representatives to amend the scope of the anti-money-laundering law, Pagcor proposed to include any transaction in the casinos that will reach the threshold amount of P4 million.
Although the revival of the proposal to privatize Pagcor’s commercial function was discussed during the Senate’s investigation on the role of casinos in the alleged laundering of the Bangladeshi government’s stolen funds, the privatization of the state gaming firm had been submitted for approval some months before to President Aquino, who has yet to act on the proposal. The Governance Commission on Government-owned and -controlled Corporations (GCG) had already submitted its recommendation to the Office of the President to privatize the commercial functions of Pagcor.
The proposal to privatize the state gaming firm was among the 14 pending recommendations to either close down, privatize or merge GOCCs for various reasons, such as redundancy, inefficiency and nonprofitability.
Among the 14 GOCCs recommended to be abolished or privatized include some units of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), both of which are seen merging as ordered by President Aquino.
Other GOCCs that were recommended to be abolished or privatized are the Philpost Savings Bank, the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp., the Armed Forces of the Philippines Retirement and Separation Benefits System, Duty Free Philippines Corp., and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions.
Although Pagcor has its own legislative charter, its privatization may be done through an executive order by the President upon the recommendation of the GCG as provided for by the GCG’s own legislative mandate to promote the financial viability of all GOCCs.