Guard who stole P2.8M from Pagcor surrenders
By Chito Aragon, Felipe V. CelinoInquirer Visayas
ROXAS CITY—A member of the security staff of the state-owned gaming firm, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
(Pagcor), in Cebu surrendered to police on Thursday after stealing P2.8 million from a Pagcor casino in Mandaue City.
Pascual Urian, 29, surrendered in Panay, Capiz, on Thursday, according to SPO1 Romeo Sol Ortencio of the Panay town police station.
Urian turned over P1.4 million of the P2.8 million that he took from Casino Filipino in Mandaue, according to Ortencio.
Ortencio quoted Urian as saying he was prompted to surrender by his relatives. His brothers accompanied Urian to police.
Urian, according to Ortencio, admitted he stole the money on July 14 because he was deep in debt as a result of his vices, including gambling and drug use.
Senior Supt. Domingo Cabillan, Capiz police director, ordered Urian’s transfer to the Capiz provincial police office in Roxas City.
Urian turned over to Cabillan the P1.4 million that he stole from the casino. Police and Pagcor representatives took custody of Urian and brought him back to Cebu, said Cabillan.
A female Pagcor guard on July 14 saw Urian, who has been working for Pagcor for four years, carrying a plastic bag believed to contain the money he stole as he left the casino building.
The female guard, Violeta Angsigbat, confronted Urian but he ran off at the height of heavy rains.
Angsigbat reported the case to a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team detachment near the Pagcor building in Cebu.
SWAT members gave chase but failed to catch Urian after he threw P500 and P1,000 bills that bystanders scrambled to pick up. Police recovered at least P80,000 from those who picked up the money.
Pagcor operates several casinos in Metro Manila and other areas as part of its revenue-generating task.
It has donated hundreds of millions of pesos to local government units for various projects.
Considered to be the government’s cash cow, Pagcor also contributes millions of pesos in funds for other projects that government cannot fund through its regular collection of taxes.
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