PHILIPPINE Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Alejandro Tengco yesterday told senators he was referring to former presidential spokesman Harry Roque as the ex-Cabinet official who was involved with the Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc., the operator of the online offshore gaming hub raided in Porac, Pampanga last June 5.
Tengco, during the hearing of the Committee on Women, said it was Roque who called his office and requested for an appointment with him.
He said the meeting was set July 26, 2023 at his office.
Tengco said Roque, who he said acted as legal counsel of Lucky South 99, was with one of the firm’s incorporators whom he identified as one Cassandra Lee Ong.
During the meeting, Tengco said he was accompanied by lawyer Jessa Fernandez, chief of Pagcor’s licensing department
Asked what was discussed during their meeting, Tengco said Roque and Ong sought consideration of the firm’s six-month unpaid $500,000 tax arrears.
Roque, reacting to Tengco’s Senate testimony, denied that he was a legal counsel of Lucky South 99.
“I am not and have never been a legal counsel to any illegal POGO. Neither was I counsel to Lucky South 99, Incorporated,” Roque said.
He added: “I also did not participate in preparing Lucky South’s organizational chart, which identified me as their legal counsel. I vehemently deny media reports claiming that Philippine amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Alejandro Tengco allegedly said that I represented an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO).”
Roque, however, confirmed that he and Ong, whom he said is Whirlwind Corporation’s corporate secretary, met with Tengco in July 2023 to request a rescheduling of arrears payment for Whirlwind Corporation, which he said was his client.
Whirlwind Corporation, he said, was a service provider of Lucky South 99.
He also said that as far as he knows Ong represented Whirlwind Corporation, not Lucky South 99, during the meeting.
Roque said that at the time of his meeting with Tengco, Lucky South 99 was not even considered an illegal POGO.
UNPAID TAXES
Tengco said that during their meeting, Ong told him they were unaware of their tax arrears because they have entrusted their monthly tax payments to Dennis Cunanan, the former director of the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center, who was then acting as their liaison to Pagcor.
Cunanan has been sentenced by the Sandiganbayan to 26 years in prison for his involvement in the pork barrel scam. He is out on bail pending the the decision of the Supreme Court on his appeal.
Ong supposedly told Tengco and Fernandez that they did not know that Cunanan did not remit their tax payments to Pagcor. She said they allegedly learned of the non-payment after they received a communication from Fernandez’ office informing them of their arrears.
“Ang kuwento po niya, buwanan po binibigay niya yung pera kay Ginoong Dennis Cunanan at pinaniniwalaan niya na yun ay binibayad sa Pagcor. Kaya nagulat po sila nang magpadala ng sulat ang tanggapan ni Atty Jessa Fernandez sa kanila na nagsasabing meron silang arrears na anim na buwan. Humigit kumulang po yun sa 500,000 dolyares, US dollars (Ong told me that she has been giving the money on a monthly basis to Mr. Dennis Cunanan and they believed that the money was being remitted to Pagcor. But they were surprised when they received a letter from the office of Atty. Jessa Fernandez informing them that have arrears amounting to 500,000 dollars, US dollars),” Tengco said.
He said Ong claimed that Lucky South 99 entrusted to Cunanan the payment of the monthly taxes since the latter was chosen by its Board of Directors to represent the company since it was him who facilitated the permits of the company.
To prove their sincerity that they will pay their tax arrears, Tengco said Ong told him that a company representative has paid $203,000 to a Landbank of the Philippines account under Pagcor’s name as partial settlement of the arrears while they were having the meeting.
Tengco said Ong’s statement was true as they later received a copy of the deposit slip.
He also quoted Ong as saying that Cunanan was even asking the company extra amount of money to pay for the fines and penalties for the payment of government taxes.
Tengco said Roque acted only as a conduit between Pagcor and Ong so that Lucky South 99 can still have the chance to settle its arrears.
He added that Roque did not pressure them to give the company consideration to pay for the unsettled taxes.
The Pagcor chief likewise said that during the meeting, Ong took the opportunity to inform him that they will renew the license to operate of Lucky South 99, which was set to expire October 2023.
He said it was last time he talked to Roque as he asked him to just talk to Fernandez regarding the renewal of licenses.
LICENSE RENEWAL
Fernandez said Roque made five phone calls and sent her one text message to follow up on Lucky South 99’s reapplication of license to operate, but she said they eventually turned down the application due several “reasons.”
“Nung May 14, 2024 po, in-inform ko po siya ng decision po naming na i-deny ang application ng Lucky South because nakakita na po talaga kami ng reason para hindi po talaga sila bigyan ng lisensiya that time (Last May 14, 2024, I informed him [Roque] of our decision to deny the application of Lucky South after we found reasons no give it a license to operate that time),” Fernandez said without elaborating on the reasons.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said Roque’s name was included in Lucky South 99’s organizational chart, which supposedly confirms that he is not only the legal counsel of Whirlwind Corporation, the owner of the lot where the Porac POGO was constructed.
She said that Lucky South 99’s organizational chart was one of the attachments when it formally applied for a license from Pagcor.
Roque said he was not informed that his name was included in any of the documents submitted by Lucky South with the Pagcor.
He added that his name was added to the organizational chart without his consent and that he had nothing to do with the preparation of the firm’s application papers.
“I have no reason to deny my legal engagement with Lucky South if there is truth to it. Providing legal representation is why the legal profession exists. But the reality is that an attorney-client relationship is of the highest fiduciary relationship and cannot be presumed unless there is a clear retainer between counsel and client,” he said.
“As a lawyer, I could not directly engage with the POGO because of a potential conflict of interest and given the soured lease contract between Whirlwind and Lucky South,” he added.
POGO HUBS
Hontiveros said the Senate committee will dig deeper into the existence of illegal POGO hubs after new documents gathered by her office showed that the “Pharmally” group has possible connections with the offshore gaming industry.
Hontiveros said that a certain Gerald Cruz, who has links with the POGOs, also has links with the Pharmally group which was investigated by the Blue Ribbon Committee after it was favored to purchase pandemic supplies even if it only had a paid-up capital of P625,000.
“Lumilitaw na nga yung koneksiyong Gerald Cruz at Michael Yang. Tignan natin kung saan tayo dadalhin ng ebidensiya kung this time around makokonekta yung dotted lines hanggang kay Duterte (It appears that the connection of Gerald Cruz extends to Michael Yan. Let’s see where the evidence will take us and if it will connect the dotted lines up to former president Duterte),” she said.
When asked what would be the possible participation of Yang to the illegal POGOS, Hontiveros said:” Ang laki kasi ng ginampanan niya sa Pharmally scam. At kung parehong Pharmally group ay nandito rin pala sa POGO, so possible malaki din papel niya dito (He played a big role in the Phramally scam. And if it is the same Pharmally group who’s here in the POGOs, it its also possible that he had a big role here),” she said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
