Cavite 4th district Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. (Screenshot from Facebook)

A poorly-conceived harassment suit. 

That's how Cavite 4th Elpidio Barzaga Jr. described the charges filed against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman and nine others before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged disappearance of P75 million in performance bond posted by an e-sabong (electronic cockfighting) firm. 

Barzaga, a former chairman of the House Committee on Games and Amusement, said Chairman Alejandro Tengco had nothing to do with the allegations because the head of the Pagcor then was Andrea Domingo. 

"Mukhang hindi pinag-aralang mabuti ang kasong isinampa because Chairman Tengco (It looks like the case filed was poorly-conceived since Chairman Tengco) was not yet the head of PAGCOR then. The complaint was filed probably just to harass him," said the senior lawmaker, who is a CPA lawyer by profession. 

Among those charged with malversation of public funds, qualified theft and falsification of private and commercial documents with Domingo and Tengco were his chief of staff Dianne Erica Jogno, Domingo and former board members Gabriel Claudio, Carmen Pedrosa, Reynaldo Concordia, and James Patrick Bondoc. 

Listed as complainant was Joaquin Sy, chairman of the board and chief finance officer of Kamura Highlands Gaming and Holdings Inc. 

Tengco was included on the list of respondents even if he only assumed office as PAGCOR chair last week of August last year.

Tengco and Jogno were also charged with complaints of obstruction of justice for “their deliberate concealment of the crimes and unjustified refusal to respond to the letters of the complainant within the period prescribed (by the law)". 

Barzaga pointed out that the complaint even included Concordia, who died on June 17, 2021; and Pedrosa, who passed away on June 8, 2022. 

"Basic naman 'yan, mukhang 'di pinag-aralang ang kasong isinampa (It's basic, they apparently didn't study the case filed). The complainant doesn't even know that a person's death extinguishes civil and criminal liability. They're blackening the memory of the late Pagcor board members," he said. 

Meanwhile, Barzaga hailed Tengco for assuring the public that he would get to the bottom of the matter even if he had nothing to do with it, saying "It shows strength of character." 

While he thinks that it was "strange" that he was included in the complaint, Tengco has vowed to "pursue our own investigation and determine what really happened, and bring the perpetrators to justice if indeed there was any anomaly". 

The Pagcor chief said he has launched an internal investigation and is "trying to recreate the sequence of events". 

The other respondents in the case are Jewel Castro and his parents, Rizalina and Simplicio Castro, who were allegedly involved with Kamura.

However, based on the records of Kamura Highlands Gaming and Holdings, Inc. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), out of P100-million paid-up capital, Rizalina Camora Castro, Simplicio Castro Lorenzana Jr. and Jewel Camora Castro paid P20 million each or a total of P60 million 

Moreover, in the latest general information sheet filed with SEC, Rizalina Camora Castro is the president and Jewel Camora Castro is the vice-president while Joaquin Sy as chief financial officer. Rizalina Camora Castro in the latest stockholder’s information sheet has paid P24 nilkion and Jewel Camora Castro paid P25 million or a total of P49 million out of the paid-up capital of P100 million. 

Sy alleged that there was illegal issuance and release by Pagcor of P75 million in checks in favor of Castro, supposedly for the return of a cash performance bond posted for its e-sabong operations last year. 

The complainant, however, said that a few weeks after posting the performance bond, then president Rodrigo Duterte ordered e-sabong operations stopped, which prompted Sy to send a letter to Domingo seeking the withdrawal of the bond. 

Sy said he followed up his request several times until July 10 this year, but he did not get any reply. 

The complainant was told by Pagcor Assistant Vice President for Finance Lolita Gonzales that a check worth P75 million had been issued in September last year to Castro.