MANILA, PHILIPPINES -- The country's two leading state gaming agencies continue to hug the limelight.
Even as the little Southeast Asian nation listened to every word delivered by its president, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, during his second State of the Nation Address held yesterday, the president delivered yet another news of a scandal brought about by the old leadership of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the Philippines' state agency for games of chance.
As part of his speech, President Aquino remarked that PAGCOR had spent some Php 1 billion (US$ 23.6 million) on coffee.
The speech, delivered in Filipino, translates:
"In PAGCOR, the previous management apparently spent Php 1 billion on coffee alone. At Php 100 per cup, that would be 10 million cups of coffee over the last several years."
The President added jestingly:
"Where did all that coffee go? Who drank it? Perhaps we can find the people who consumed all that coffee and ask if they have been able to sleep in the last few years."
The remark on PAGCOR's spending a billion pesos on coffee drew smiles and laughters from the audience who were mostly senators, congressmen, and special guests. TV and radio commentators were quick to pounce on the issue and became the butt of jokes.
PAGCOR, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) have been in the headlines lately after scandals and exposes about alleged misuse of their respective offices' funds have been revealed.
PAGCOR's former chairman, Efraim Genuino, and previous officers are now respondents to several cases filed for among other things, diverting PAGCOR funds for the use in the election bids of Genuino's children in the last election, alleged anomalous allocation of budget by the agency of a movie, and the alleged misuse of some Php 30 million allocation for the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association.
Source: Inquirer.net
Posted: July 26, 2011
