THE National Bureau of Investigation is investigating the possible conspirators of a former Philippine Sports Commission contractual employee who stole millions of pesos from the PSC in a payroll padding scam involving the stipends of athletes and coaches in the national pool, according to acting PSC executive director Atty. Guillermo Iroy Jr.
“The names of the potential conspirators of Paul Ignacio are now with the NBI,” said Iroy, adding that formal charges have been filed against Ignacio and his possible conspirators.
“The Department of Justice is now conducting a preliminary investigation of the case,” he added.
Assigned to the PSC’s personnel department, Ignacio has confessed to using bogus accounts of athletes and coaches no longer on the PSC payroll to steal an estimated P12 to P14 million going back to 2015.
Ignacio, an IT specialist who was first assigned to the PSC’s Management Information System, was tasked to personally take the computer disc containing the names of the national pool members to the bank every payroll period
Officials at the Land Bank branch across the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, where the PSC administration building is located, informed PSC officials of what they sensed as an anomaly, particularly when Ignacio withdrew P2 million from his personal account at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Iroy.
Iroy said it’s unlikely for Ignacio to commit the crime of theft, a non-bailable offense with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, without accomplices.
“But the investigation by the NBI is taking time because they also locked down the office,” Iroy said, noting the NBI office was shuttered for disinfection and sanitation over the weekend.
The scam prompted PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez, backed by Commissioners Ramon Fernandez, Celia Kiram, Charles Maxey and Engr. Arnold Agustin, to reorganize the administrative set-up of the government sports agency.
Iroy was appointed as acting executive director vice Merly Ibay, who was named to her old post as deputy executive director for finance and administrative services.
Ramirez said more changes within the PSC are expected in the succeeding weeks.
Iroy, who also held the position of executive director during Ramirez’s first term as chairman from 2005 to 2009, acknowledged the PSC is facing “an ocean of problems,” foremost among them the drastically cut PSC budget. The remittances of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. were drastically reduced when casinos were shuttered in mid-March due to the pandemic.
Since then, only the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations have been the source of PAGCOR revenues while casinos and gambling establishments remained closed.
Iroy is hoping that Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino would include a supplemental budget of P300 million for the PSC in the second version of the Bayanihan To Heal as One Act.
Tolentino, who represents the lone district of Tagaytay in the House, had said that he would ask his colleagues for help so the allowances of national athletes and coaches, cut in half due to the deadly virus, would be reinstated.
