More PCSO execs face graft raps over lease deal
An anti-graft group yesterday filed charges against three officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in connection with an allegedly questionable lease agreement with two private firms.
The Anti-Trapo Movement (ATM) amended its original complaint filed three months ago with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Named respondents in the amended case were PCSO legal department manager Anna Liza Inciong, gaming technology manager Arnel Casas and product and standard development manager Roger Ramirez.
Originally charged last July were former PCSO chiefs Erineo Maliksi and Margarita Juico, general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, assistant general manager for gaming production development and marketing sector Conrado Zabella and board members Florencio Gabriel Noel, Betty Nantes, Mabel Mamba and Francisco Joaquin III.
The group accused the respondents of violating Republic Act 6713 or the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees, and the procurement law.
The group said the PCSO officials should be investigated, suspended preventively and charged before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly extending lottery equipment lease agreements (ELA) for online lottery operations in some areas of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao without conducting a public bidding.
The ATM, represented by Leon Peralta, said the respondents extended the agency’s contracts with the Philippine Gaming and Management Corp. ( PGMC) and Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC) after the contracts of these establishments expired in March and August 2015, respectively.
“By extending the ELA, the PCSO limits the opportunities for the government to be able to procure the best available solutions at the most advantageous price to promote economy and efficiency,” the group said.
“The technology used by PGMC and POSC is not exclusively distributed or owned by the lessors, but is available and used by other companies. Other entities can offer better pricing or more advanced technology better suited for the security and efficiency of the lotto operations in the country,” it added.
In the amended complaint, the group said that aside from their culpabilities in the ELA extension, Maliksi and the the respondents are guilty of “inaction constituting dereliction and omission of their sworn duties under the institution’s Charter, resulting in a signifi decrease in the institution’s revenues.”
It said that while it was standard practice among corporate organizations to fire the entire management teams whenever revenues dip, the PSCO board gave themselves and their choice officers fat bonuses and allowances even when their revenues were falling.
Peralta said a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) showed the “unauthorized remunerations paid to the officials and employees of the PCSO head office from 2012 to 2014 amounted to P907.090 million and the disallowed compensation items were continuously granted to these officials and employees in 2015 in the total amount of P306.036 million.”