Witness clears Genuinos

A witness against former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino and his two sons on Thursday admitted that he was not instructed by the Genuinos to repack and distribute some 3,500 sacks of donated rice to aid the sons’ election campaigns.

John Javier, a Pagcor midlevel manager, told a justice department hearing yesterday it was Edward King, the state-owned gaming firm’s corporate communications head at the time, who gave him instructions to take the donated grain a rice miller in Biñan, Laguna, in 2009.

Javier also clarified that he did not meet Genuino or his sons, Erwin and Anthony, to talk about distributing the rice, now repacked in smaller sacks printed with the faces of the two Genuino sons who were candidates in local election contests.

No liability

Ramon Esguerra, Genuino’s lawyer, said Javier’s testimony was proof that his client and his sons should not be held liable for malversation of public funds as alleged by the current Pagcor management.

“While I’m not preempting the DOJ, this (Javier’s admission) will prove that the Genuinos are innocent. That story linking them (with the alleged diversion of donated rice) is not true,” Esguerra said.

But according to Pagcor lawyer Michael Gaspar, it was “very clear” that King had directed Javier to take the rice to the private miller on instructions of Genuino.

“John Javier was just an ordinary Pagcor manager. Why would he repack the donated rice if his superiors did not order him?” Gaspar said.

Diversion

In its complaint, the new Pagcor management alleged that Genuino ordered the diversion of more than P1.4 million worth of “first-class Thailand rice”—donated by the Japanese gaming company Aruze Corp. for the victims of typhoon Frank in 2008—to supposedly bolster the mayoral bids of Erwin and Anthony Genuino in the May 2010 elections.

Erwin, a former Pagcor counsel, lost his mayoral bid in Makati to Jun-jun Binay, the son of  Vice President Jejomar Binay. Anthony won election as mayor of Los Baños, Laguna, though his candidacy was questioned on the ground that he was not a resident of the town.

Erwin and Anthony did not attend Thursday’s hearing.