Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has filed a resolution urging the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct a separate investigation on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (PAGCOR) alleged anomalous procurement of a third party auditor in charge of determining the gross revenues of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country.
In filing Senate Resolution 452, Gatchalian said it is imperative for the Senate panel to be able to identify and exact accountability on the alleged irregularities in the procurement of Global ComRCI Consortium, the third party auditor contracted by PAGCOR for the POGO industry to the tune of P6-billion for 10 years.
“It is imperative that the seemingly anomalous government procurement and public expenditure must be examined in order to maintain the trust and confidence of the people to the government,” said Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
The resolution follows findings at a recent hearing of the Senate ways and means panel that PAGCOR failed to comply with existing procurement rules in contracting Global ComRCI Consortium in 2017.
Under existing procurement laws, a contractor is required to have an operating capital of at least P1-billion.
To comply with the requirement, Global ComRCI Consortium reportedly submitted a bank
certification issued by Soleil Chartered Bank.
However, the said bank is not registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also certified that no corporation or partnership under the name of Global ComRCI is registered with the agency.
Also during the hearing, Senate probers found out that Global ComRCI’s office and place of operation cannot not be located.
Lawmakers also noted that the company has not even secured business permits from the local governments of Makati and Manila where it has supposedly held offices and operations.
Gatchalian reiterated that the third party auditor’s lack of technical capability to regulate the correct gross gaming revenue of POGOs in the country may lead to underpayment of the two percent (2%) franchise fee to PAGCOR and the five percent (5%) gaming tax to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).