We need a good gaming policy

All the mess with Naguiat and previously with Genuino can be traced to our lack of a gaming policy. This is apparently how politicians want it because it gives them a lot of elbow room to do as they please. And they surely do as they please with the coerced generosity of Pagcor.

It wasn’t so bad when we had someone like Alice Reyes at Pagcor’s helm and Tita Cory in Malacañang. But it is now clear P-noy must craft such a gaming policy immediately or risk having the reputation of his administra

tion besmirched by scandals. This one with Naguiat and Okada will likely just be the first for P-noy unless changes are made.

Next to their pork barrels, legislators get a lot of their “happiness” from Pagcor. That explains why congressmen were so protective of Naguiat in the face of that embarrassing revelation of his incognito stay in a $6,000 a night villa in Wynns Macau at the expense of an entity he is supposed to regulate.

I find Naguiat’s statement that Okada already got his license from Genuino a half truth. It is as if Naguiat is saying Okada had nothing more to gain by being nice to him. But I understand that Okada only got a provisional license. Naguiat will still have to grant him a permanent license and regulate his operations from then on. That’s why Naguiat got royal treatment in Macau… not because he was wearing his casino operator hat but because he was Okada’s regulator.

Then, I wonder how many of you realize there are two government agencies who can issue gaming licenses? Pagcor is one. The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) is the other.

All economic zones (e.g. Subic, Clark) can actually have a gaming entity within their confines but under supervision of Pagcor. CEZA however, under its charter, can skip Pagcor. It can even issue a gaming license hundreds of kilometers away from Cagayan, like in Metro Manila. There are so called “on-line satellite gaming” operations in some Metro Manila buildings licensed by CEZA.

The other policy point has to do with separating the regulatory and casino operations functions of Pagcor. Having both in the same entity is pure and simple conflict of interest. P-noy actually had the right instincts about this issue when he declared shortly after he was elected that he wants Pagcor’s casino operations privatized. I hope he has not forgotten or has been convinced to forget the idea.

If we really intend to try to compete in the region’s gaming market, it doesn’t help us if we have the reputation of, as Wynn puts it, where “official corruption (in the Philippine gaming industry) is deeply ingrained.” It is so bad, Wynn complained to a Nevada court, that he doubts “that newly elected President Aquino’s stated plans for reform would eliminate corruption in the gaming industry” and that “the country’s legal/regulatory frameworks were not closely aligned with American compliance and transparency standards.”

The secret in the success of Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore in the gaming business is a regulatory system with a trustworthy reputation among the industry investors and the folks who gamble there. In other words, there is a credible assurance of a level playing field… hindi lutong Macao.

If the report prepared by a top Filipino law firm annexed

to the Wynn complaint is to be believed, a past top Pagcor official has managed to surreptitiously get his own private interest carried over in Okada’s venture in the new Entertainment City hidden through fancy corporate layers. Such a conflict of interest situation is not compatible with good governance.

In fact, P-noy may want to investigate actions of the past Pagcor management a little deeper. It is entirely possible that one or more of the investors in the Entertainment City complex are linked with the Arroyo administration. If P-noy believes the past administration amassed hidden wealth, all that wealth will have to go somewhere. Why not launder it in a casino operation right here at home?

Oh well… the earlier P-noy splits the regulatory from the casino operations of Pagcor, the better it will be for his own image of good governance and the credibility of his Daang Matuwid. If P-noy wants to keep his classmate Naguiat in charge of casino operations, in case privatization is delayed, he should nevertheless transfer at once the regulatory function to another person whose private life and public image suggest he can be trusted.

There is no shortage of people of integrity in the mold of Alice Reyes who can take over the regulatory role. Gen. Danny Lim comes to mind. Jorge Sarmiento, who is now president of Pagcor, is also another possibility. Sarmiento is one public servant who has managed to keep a clean reputation even if he served in such corruption ridden agencies like the Comelec and National Telecoms Commission. The earlier P-noy promulgates his gaming policy, the better it will be for him and the nation’s reputation.

The other Corona

I was talking with some old friends from UP about the Corona affair and someone made the observation that it was a pity the better Corona didn’t get to be Chief Justice instead. The “other” Corona is of course the older brother of the CJ, Arturo “Toti” Corona who is a UP Law graduate not an Atenean like the CJ. Toti is said to be more of the real legal scholar and has a good sense of what’s ethical.

I remember this other Corona as a candidate for chairman of the UP Student Council the year Jerry Barican was elected. I was able to access the annual Dean’s Report of then UP College of Law Dean Vicente Abad Santos via Google and I found out Toti Corona graduated as class salutatorian with cum laude honors the same year that Ronnie Zamora graduated valedictorian with magna cum laude honors. Miriam Defensor was listed third in that graduating class with cum laude honors.

That same report dated July 31, 1969 mentions that Judge Serafin R. Cuevas of the Court of First Instance of Manila was added to the faculty as a professorial lecturer in law effective June 1, 1969.

Going back to Toti, he became DOTC secretary under Tita Cory but lasted only three months on the job. He resigned on the excuse that he had to take care of his mother. But I am told the real reason was that he could not take the corruption at DOTC. He found the culture of corruption so entrenched there and he would have no part of, how do I put it, the “industry practice”.

Oh no. I didn’t think DOTC is that bad. Then again, DOTC did have a long line of sleazy secretaries during most of the post EDSA 1 era. NAIA 3 is exhibit A of DOTC sleaziness. What has happened to PNR, where even the “air rights” to its right-ofway was sold, is another example. The ZTE-NBN project is still another example. The only former DOTC secretary I am sure is clean is Ping de Jesus.

That’s probably why Mar Roxas is taking his sweet time making sure his projects are clean. But if DOTC is that rotten, I am afraid Mar would be so afraid to get his name and reputation dirty he won’t have the guts to sign any contract during his watch. Reminds me of a Cory era DPWH secretary who was so religious no one can accuse him of corruption. Indeed, during his watch there was no corruption at DPWH but no significant projects either.

Explain, please!

Lito Balquiedra sent this one. There was this couple that had been married for 20 years. Every time they made love the husband always insisted on shutting off the light.

Well, after 20 years the wife felt this was ridiculous. She figured she would break him out of this crazy habit.

So one night, while they were in the middle of a wild, screaming, romantic session, she turned on the lights. She looked down and saw her husband was holding a battery-operated leisure device... a vibrator! Soft, wonderful and larger than a real one.

She went completely ballistic “You impotent bastard,” She screamed at him, “how could you be lying to me all of these years? You better explain yourself!”

The husband looks her straight in the eyes and says calmly: “I’ll explain the toy . . . you explain the kids.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco