News
DILG chief asks Bulakenyos to support gov’t fight vs corruption, illegal drugs, crimes
MALOLOS CITY –Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael O. Sueto on Monday called on the people of Bulacan and its leaders to support the government in its fight against graft and corruption, illegal drugs and crimes.
Sueto, speaking during the inauguration of the First Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 at the historic Barasoain Church here, said such support is needed so as not to waste the sacrifices of Filipino patriots and revolutionaries who shed blood, sweat and tears 118 years ago in attaining the quest for freedom and sovereignty.
The DILG Secretary, who was the guest of honor and speaker during the 118th anniversary of the First Philippine Republic, told Bulacan officials headed by Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado, Vice Governor Daniel Fernando and City Mayor Christian D. Natividad and the people of Bulacan who attended the ceremony that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is extending his best wishes and adherence to the significance of the First Philippine Republic.
He said the President believes that the sacrifices of the patriotic Filipinos and the revolutionaries will not go into naught as long as the people of the Republic will continue to unite and fight corruption, crime and the specter of narco-politics, which is now the enemy and evil that threaten the very fabric of the Philippine’s hard-earned freedom and democracy.
The DILG secretary said that if President Duterte did not become the head of the nation, the Republic will surely be transformed into a state of “narco-politics,” where drug lords will rule and control national and local executives.
He also told the people of Bulacan that the President, after meeting the different mayors in the country, also met with the provincial governors.
He said the Chief Executive gave them the list of politicians involved in the proliferation of the illegal drug trade in the country which, he said is very alarming because it even includes a senator, congressmen, judges, mayors, village chiefs and the police.
“I can’t imagine what will happen to our country if the local government units (LGUs) will fall under the control of drug lords,” Sueto said.
He said the controversial kidnapping and killing of Korean national Jee Ick Jooi inside Camp Crame by police officers is a “wake-up call not only for the Philippine National Police but for all of us.”
For his part, Gov. Alvarado said that it is high time to look back at the importance of January 23, 1899 in the midst of the growing clamor for change.
Alvarado also said that it is his fervent wish that the significance of this day (January 23), the anniversary of the First Philippine Republic, be given the full honor and recognition and must not only be regarded as a mere provincial holiday in Bulacan.
Rey David
January 24, 2017 at 2:33 AM
Malacañang Should have PAGCOR, BI and DOJ investigated
It is amazing how people have this curious tendency of making so much noise to deflect suspicions away from them. Aguirre is doing exactly just that these days. With the P50-Million bribe scandal involving BI commissioners still smouldering, Aguirre is making all noise about reforming BI and the BUCOR to make it look like he is Mr. Clean incarnate.
But the cat is now out of the bag with regard to that P50-Million bribe scandal and BI rank and file are now talking about the ‘magnificent obsession’ of Kim Wong to control Philippine online gaming through his PAGCOR partners, Andrea Domingo, et al. What is oddly curious is that through all the Fontana raid operations, Aguirre was acting like a sheepdog dutifully shepherding online gaming operators to PAGCOR. You see, there’s an old Chinese saying, “You kill the chicken to frighten the monkey.” Well, the high profile Fontana raid just had that effect on all online gaming operators. And this is notwithstanding the fact that most of them know that PAGCOR’s so-called authority over online gaming is illusory and will vanish at the first serious challenge at the SC.
Incidentally also, are not BI Commissioners Argosino and Robles both Aguirre recommendees, they being his frat brothers in the Lex Miliones, er Talionis, Fraternity?
Indeed, BI and BUCOR needs true reforms and honest-to-goodness house cleaning. But the same, even more, can be said of DOJ and PAGCOR. DOJ’s corrupt ‘fixcals’ and prosecutors are as much to blame for our terminally sick justice system as are judges and justices hoodlums-in-robes. Decisions-for-sale are as regular and common in DOJ’s sleazy corridors as they are in our courts.
And PAGCOR? Well, PAGCOR has always been a den of thieves reserved for the biggest benefactors of victorious national political leaders.,,
Lucas Temoteo
January 24, 2017 at 2:38 AM
Pres. DU30 should be careful and wary about his appointees. After the shameful episode involving his two frat brothers in the BI trying to pull off a once-in-a-blue-moon hefty pay check of Php50 Million, he should order a counter-intel style check on his other appointees to be sure that they are not dipping their itchy fingers in the cookie jar. After all, too many of his appointees are recycled GMA officials and some of these have even been stained during the corruption spree days of Gloria Arroyo. And the temptation to revert back to their ‘happy days’ are too strong in agencies overflowing with fat ‘financial opportunities’ like PAGCOR and PCSO.
We know that the President is truly sincere in his efforts to reform our government and society. We know that his heart is in the right place. However, we also know that many of his appointees – by their past track records – do not really share this vision and virtue.
Here’s hoping that his solemn campaign promise of a corruption-free government will not be forgotten and degenerate into a corruption spree.,
Lucas Temoteo
January 24, 2017 at 2:38 AM
“Duterte says to order closure of all online gaming” – ans-cbncom
“President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he is ordering the closure of online gaming operations in the country.
Duterte said corruption in the approval of gaming licenses has become rampant, with bribes amounting to about P300 billion.”
The President should be more circumspect and avoid making rash pronouncements and decisions regarding online gaming or e-gambling. Online gaming is a relatively new technology-driven evolution of gambling. It has been growing briskly by double digits over the past years and the global industry was estimated in 2015 to be about US$62 Billion and slated to breach US$200 Billion in just about a decade. Because of this, countries all over the world are now crafting legal frameworks and mechanisms so that their economies can benefit from this phenomenon. European Union countries and Asian nations were first to do this years back. Now, US states are taking notice and adapting as well.
Being the virtual call center capital of the world, the Philippines is the natural choice for investors as the ‘hub’ of online gaming’s BPO operations. This new subsector of our BPO and entertainment industry and its ancillary services can provide employment for tens (if not hundreds) of thousands and billions in taxes annually. We should not throw away this great opportunity by closing our doors to online gaming because of the corruption in some agencies which have imposed their pseudo-regulation of this industry.
An old saying goes, “Do not throw the baby out with the bath water.” We cannot throw out online gaming and miss out on its huge benefits just because some shameless and callous government officials are deriving enormous pay-offs from them.
We should instead put in place a proper regulatory structure that will put order, predictability, accountability and transparency in the industry. Right now, we should start by making an authoritative determination as to what regulatory body has oversight and control of this important new industry. Then we should make a thorough investigation of all the instances of bribery and corruption committed by these shameless officials.
For Pete’s sake, just let the heads roll.,,
Kwak Kwak Kwak
January 24, 2017 at 2:39 AM
Duterte must spare Online Gaming Industry from PAGCOR’s corrupt meddling
The local online gaming sector is one of the promising sectors of the Philippines’ BPO industry. Numerous foreign investors have shown keen interest in establishing their online gaming/e-gaming BPO operations and are now inquiring with many PEZA zones and establishments. With its current industry practice of operating as BPO call center services catering to foreign overseas gaming/gambling clients, online gaming has truly become an important performing industry and has been growing substantively over the recent years.
This success is largely attributed to the pioneering efforts of forward-thinking technocrats who, years before, had seen the immense potential for our country to become a vital BPO hub in Asia for online gaming.
Now PAGCOR is wreaking havoc as it tries to wrestle control of the local online gaming industry. Rumours are rife in the online gaming industry itself that certain personalities at PAGCOR are actively “leaning” on online gaming outfits to make “arrangements” with them to avoid being shut down.
It is whispered around by exasperated operators that the asking fee nowadays runs into several tens of millions. They now fear that this would effectively ruin the local industry and not allow the country to benefit from the current global boom in online gaming/e-gambling, which is reportedly poised to generate over a hundred billion dollars in annual revenues in the next few years to several hundred billion dollars in the next decade. There is now a clear chilling effect, which will definitely stymie the brisk growth of the local online gaming industry over the past several years.
Industry insiders are now asking what happened to the clear and categorical pronouncements of President Rody of his leadership’s firm commitment against graft and corruption, for which he has zero “0” tolerance. They are wondering if the newly installed management of PAGCOR are actually untouchables who are exempt from the present Administration’s clear declarations against corruption of any kind. ,
Kwak Kwak Kwak
January 24, 2017 at 2:40 AM
With PAGCOR Old Corrupt Habits Die Hard
PAGCOR is now trying to meddle in the online gaming/e-gambling BPO industry and is throwing its weight around flaunting its very strong “connections” with the Duterte Administration.
The main problem is that the regulation and licensing of online gaming is not in the charter of PAGCOR. Simply put, it is not vested with the legal authority to regulate this unique type of technology-driven gaming. It has no mandate to speak of and its imagined and illusory authority will vanish at the first query of affected parties at the Supreme Court.
The fact that these are authorities beyond the limited scope of PAGCOR’s charter and mandate were actually already pointed out by the SC on a few occasions, one of them being in the 2004 case of JAWORSKI vs. PAGCOR and SAGE (G.R. No. 144463), although the clear pronouncements as well as implications of the decision were largely ignored by the two successive corrupt and/or incompetent administrations of Arroyo and Aquino.
Moreover, PAGCOR’s track record in its plainly arrogated authority over the regulation and licensing of online gaming/e-gambling has left so much to be desired. For one, it was largely to blame for PhilWeb’s erstwhile ubiquitous network of public online and e-gambling shops, which in part catered to Filipino gamblers. PAGCOR practically gave Ongpin a free hand in the wanton proliferation of his publicly open gambling joints across the commercial centers of our country. In its overweening greed to impose an imagined authority over the lucrative online gaming industry, it violated the strict provision of its charter prohibiting public access to its gambling shops and centers.
President Duterte should go after these corrupt PAGCOR personalities hammer and tongs and put the fear of God in their hearts.
,,
Berdugo Katapang
January 24, 2017 at 2:40 AM
Duterte must Curb PAGCOR’s Insatiable Greed
President Rody must stick to his solemn promise to the Filipino people that he will have zero “0” tolerance to corruption. He must curb PAGCOR’s insatiable greed. PAGCOR is now trying to benefit from a briskly growing industry that has been painstakingly built and nurtured over the years by other institutions.
Being the lawyer that he is, the President has on several occasions vowed that his Administration will be a government of laws. PAGCOR’s recent actions on online gaming/e-gambling are patently unlawful. Regulation and licensing of this type of gaming/gambling is not in its charter, and thus, not part of its mandate.
Nor can this absence and lack of authority be simply remedied by an executive issuance, which it is rumoured PAGCOR’s new management is moving mightily to get from the President. PAGCOR’s amended charter in 2007 stipulated that it could not intrude into games covered by existing franchises/licenses. This law cannot be amended or modified by an executive order. Neither should the President allow the issuance of an executive order to cater to PAGCOR’s greed and whims.
In truth, PAGCOR’s overweening greed may only put the President on the spot.
Legal experts are surmising that only a legislative action can cure PAGCOR’s infirmity on online gaming/e-gambling. However, it is quite doubtful that Congress will be predisposed to provide the “cure”, given PAGCOR’s sordid track record on the matter.
Like the old saying, “let sleeping dogs lie,” we must let the online gaming/e-gambling industry grow thrive on its own without the greedy meddling of PAGCOR. After all, adequate and appropriate regulatory and licensing regimes are already in place.
To borrow an exasperated question from FVR, “what gives?”,
SUPERBI
January 24, 2017 at 2:48 AM
Clearly, President Rody must curb PAGCOR’s insatiable greed. PAGCOR is now trying to benefit from a briskly growing industry that has been painstakingly built and nurtured over the years by other institutions.
Being the lawyer that he is, the President has on several occasions vowed that his Administration will be a government of laws. PAGCOR’s recent actions on online gaming/e-gambling are patently unlawful. Regulation and licensing of this type of gaming/gambling is not in its charter, and thus, not part of its mandate.
Nor can this absence and lack of authority be simply remedied by an executive issuance, which it is rumoured PAGCOR’s new management is moving mightily to get from the President. PAGCOR’s amended charter in 2007 stipulated that it could not intrude into games covered by existing franchises/licenses. This law cannot be amended or modified by an executive order.
In truth, PAGCOR’s greed may only put the President on the spot.
Legal experts are surmising that only a legislative action can cure PAGCOR’s infirmity on online gaming/e-gambling. However, it is quite doubtful that Congress will be predisposed to provide the “cure”, given PAGCOR’s sordid track record on the matter.
Like the old saying, “let sleeping dogs lie,” we must let the online gaming/e-gambling industry grow thrive on its own without the greedy meddling of PAGCOR. After all, adequate and appropriate regulatory and licensing regimes are already in place.
To borrow an exasperated question from FVR, “what gives?”,
SUPERBI
January 24, 2017 at 2:48 AM
President Duterte should go after these corrupt PAGCOR personalities hammer and tongs and put the fear of God in their hearts.
This is truly disturbing, Mr. President, because such is the havoc and unrest POGO is causing, that the local online gaming industry may soon collapse from the portending exodus to other countries of our foreign online gaming investors. In the few weeks of its implementation, POGO may have done irreparable damage to the online gaming industry, which was painstakingly built and nurtured from nothing over the past 15 years.
This would be tragic since the recently booming online gaming industry together with its ancillary services now employs tens of thousands of workers. It was even hailed in a few months ago as one of the promising sectors of the Philippines’ BPO industry.
This expected exodus of major industry players and the industry’s eventual collapse would prevent the Philippines from benefitting from the current global boom in online gaming/e-gambling, which is reportedly poised to generate over a hundred billion dollars in annual revenues in the next few years to several hundred billion dollars in the next decade,,,
Liwanag Para sa Bayan
January 24, 2017 at 4:09 AM
The PCSO as missed out on its great income generation potential as it has repeatedly failed to supplant the widespread addiction to popular illegal gambling systems like jueteng and masiao. Combined, Jueteng and masaio are reputed to rake in well over Php 100 Billion annually and nothing of these revenues ever go to public charity and medical assistance. Instead, substantive parts of these revenues are used as protection money and line up the pockets of corrupt police officials and politicians. We are hoping that President Duterte will take actions to stop this corruption.
We are also anticipating that in order to justify and cover up the real agenda behind the issuance of this 2016 Revised IRR, the current PCSO officials are expected to soon declare that the revenues generated from STL (Php693,286,105 as remitted by the AAC’s, per COA’s audit report in 2014) as a result of this expansion will be almost doubled.
However, the stark truth is that these revenues are but a miniscule fraction of what can actually be earned by gambling lords from the continued operation of the illegal numbers games. No less than the previous PCSO Chairman, Ayong Maliksi, disclosed that the estimate from PCSO’s gaming department is that the revenue generated from the illegal numbers games not covered by PCSO like masiao, swertres, etc. is closer to about Php103 Billion.,,
Rey David
January 24, 2017 at 4:11 AM
PCSO has already forgotten its role to charity because of the corrupt minds of the people behind it, Noynoy Aquino had abused his authority and taken advantage on this sect. It is only sad that Aquino did not maximize the fullest potential for genuine reforms when he resorted to hypocrisy by hiring corrupt close friends like DOTC Secretary Abaya, DA Secretary Alcala and DBM Secretary Abad and even retaining and protecting them in the face of glaring corruption charges and irregularities.
We must understand that these are actually amounts (Php103 Billion annually as disclosed by Maliksi) that should be going to the government coffers through PCSO and which, in turn, should be utilized to help uplift and succour our poor countrymen.
In fact, if PCSO is really set on increasing revenues from STL operations, why has it not implemented the required Point-of-Sale (POS) and Hand-Held Terminals (HHT’s) by all STL licensees as mandated under the 2010 Revised IRR? This negligence has not only failed to curb the proliferation of “Jueteng”; it has even encouraged and promoted the escalation of its operations especially under the cover of the legitimate STL,,
Lucas Temoteo
January 24, 2017 at 4:14 AM
PCSO scandal and corruption must be stopped. We are hoping that President Duterte will stop this. It is obvious that the previous president Noy Aquino is the mind behind this corruption. PCSO is not functioning as it supposed to be. PCSO has missed its role to the people.
“In behalf of the PCSO board, we vehemently deny the allegation of ATM and Mr. De Leon that PCSO favored and gave undue advantage to existing 18 Authorized Agent Corporations (CAA),” Corpuz said in a statement.
Chairman Corpuz can issue his and PCSO’s strongest denials on this issue, but the fact remains that even a cursory reading of the 2016 Revised IRR will reveal that the guidelines and requirements are patently stacked in favor of the existing 18 STL AAC’s. These are evident in the required qualifications of the applicants for the STL AAC under Article IV of the 2016 Revised IRR, to wit:
Section 11. The STL applicant must possess the following qualifications:
a. Must be a corporation/cooperative whose primary purpose is conduct STL operations;
b. Must have in its employ the necessary personnel complement to efficiently undertake STL in the area applied for, as determined by the STL Monitoring Group;,./
Kwak Kwak Kwak
January 24, 2017 at 4:19 AM
I have high hopes on the new administration that there will be an action to what’s happening now in the PCSO scandal and corruption. I hope that President Rody will emplace an honest, diligent and responsible leadership that will make PCSO realize it fullest potential of generating the much-needed funds for charity and medical assistance.
The rampant culture of graft and corruption in our government aggravated by our slow and corrupted justice system has also significantly contributed to the continued advantage of the illegal numbers games over the STL.
The seeming indifference and the defeatist attitude of the regulators (PCSO) to really institute proven and effective measures in order to achieve the objectives of the STL.
To fully unmask and understand the magnitude and impact of this 2016 Revised IRR if fully implemented, we are urging you to take a very incisive look at the results of the 2015 audit conducted by COA of the STL operations, which mostly reveals numerous violations committed by these current 18 STL AACs. These audit findings have been completely ignored by the PCSO Board.
Worst, these infractions will now be given legal protection and cover by these PCSO officials through their issuance of the assailed 2016 Revised IRR. Thus, instead of taking these errant STL AACs to task for their violations, PCSO is actually rewarding them with fresh mandates.,,
Berdugo Katapang
January 24, 2017 at 4:21 AM
After 6 Months, PDigong Should Revamp Several Agencies
One of the Digong’s main campaign promises that the people really embraced was that he would have zero-tolerance to corruption. He vowed from one campaign rally to another that he would have a corruption-free administration. Just over six months into his governance and too many agencies are now stinking of corruption.
PAGCOR leads the pack with recent revelations that the actual backdrop of the P50-Million bribe of BI commissioners was the PAGCOR-DOJ-BI-NBI operation to lean heavily on online gaming operators in order to shepherd and drive them towards PAGCOR’s newly-devised Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGO. The hidden architect of the whole show was Kim Wong (of the Bangladesh Bank US$81 Million Heist infamy) who had just been given 17 of 25 available POGO licenses in an extravagant sweetheart deal reputed to cost US$8.5 Million.
The only problem is that POGO itself is not legal. To begin with, PAGCOR has never been vested by law with the authority to regulate and license online/internet gaming. A simple reading of PAGCOR’s charter, even through all its amendments, clearly reveals this. But this fact has never prevented PAGCOR in the past from arrogating unto itself the power of oversight and regulation over this gaming mode, which has been revolutionized by the rapidly evolving cyber-technology.
Even when it met with a clear rebuff in a few SC cases, PAGCOR persisted in its arrogant presumptions and, until recently and unceremoniously stopped by the President, it continued to work with PhilWeb in granting online/internet gambling licenses left and right until cyber-gaming parlors virtually mushroomed all over the urban centers of our country. From Northern Luzon to Mindanao, business and commercial centers and even economic zones suddenly had internet/online gaming shops featuring casino-type online gambling which are now very open to the general public.
What drives PAGCOR is the insatiable greed to make oodles of money for the pockets and hidden bank accounts of its managers.
Corruption is also rising anew in PCSO, DOJ, BI and PNP.
President Digong, please tell us that you really meant what you promised.,,