Senators: No probe into Pagcor coffee fiasco

MANILA, Philippines—Senators are not keen on holding an investigation into the P1 billion funds that the previous management of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) had allegedly spent for the coffee of its casino customers.

“I don’t relish investigating civet coffee. It sounds funny but it is not really funny when you think about it,” Senate  President Juan Ponce-Enrile said  in an interview Wednesday.

Senator Panfilo Lacson also saw no need for a congressional inquiry on the matter, noting how the present management of Pagcor has been filing cases against its previous officials.

“Hindi, they keep on filing cases na e [No, they keep on filing cases already],” Lacson said in a separate interview.

But Lacson said, “Kung may papasok ding dokumento rito that would necessitate to unearth more anomalies involving Pagcor funds, why not [If documents would surface that would necessitate to unearth more anomalies involving Pagcor funds, why not]?”

Enrile though expressed his surprise at how the state-gaming firm during the past administration used its fund just for coffee.

President Benigno Aquino III’s revelation of this alleged misuse of funds during his State of the Nation Address last Monday was a “no joking matter,” said the Senate leader.

“That is no joking matter. If you quantify that, according to him (Aquino), P1 billion over ten years, so P100 million per year divided by 365 days. My God, they would be spending about less than P300,000 for coffee alone per day in Pagcor,” said Enrile.

“Who were the drinkers of coffee there? What kind of coffee are they drinking? The most expensive coffee on earth? Civet coffee?  They must be importing civet coffee?” he said.