Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Chairman Alejandro H. Tengco denied any involvement in the reported disappearance of a P75 million performance bond from an e-sabong firm, stating that it occurred before his time in office.

According to Pagcor, the alleged disappearance of the funds did not occur during Tengco's tenure, as he assumed office in August 2022, which was one month after the reported incident took place in July.

Complaints were recently filed by an official of Kamura Highlands Gaming and Holdings, Inc. against Tengco and eight others with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The charges were reported include allegations of misappropriation of public funds, qualified theft, and falsification of private and commercial documents.

“While we find it strange that we are included in the alleged charges, we nevertheless will pursue our own investigation and determine what really happened, and bring the perpetrators to justice if indeed there was any anomaly,” Tengco said in a statement.

He also said that while Pagcor has not received a formal complaint from the Ombudsman, they are already conducting an internal inquiry into the matter.

“We have launched an internal investigation and we are trying to recreate the sequence of events since the department allegedly involved, the E-Sabong Licensing Department, has already been disbanded,” he said.

In May 2022, e-sabong was banned by former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, resulting in the personnel of the E-Sabong Licensing Department being reassigned.

“While this happened before we came to Pagcor, the public can rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this, and that we will respond to the accusations against us in the proper venue once we receive a copy of the alleged charges from the Ombudsman,” Tengco added. (Xander Dave G. Ceballos)