DOJ, Pagcor sign MOA barring all department personnel from casinos
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on Monday entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to include all DOJ officials and employees in the list of persons banned from casinos.
Pagcor chair and CEO Alejandro Tengco said the MOA was the first to be signed by a government agency with the state gaming regulatory firm, noting that there are currently only 600,000 names on their list of restricted persons out of roughly 4.5 million government officials and personnel.
Under Presidential Decree No. 1869, all government officials and employees are prohibited from gambling in casinos. But during the Senate investigation into the flood control scam in September last year, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that several Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials linked to the anomalous infrastructure projects lost more than P950 million in casinos, with their total transactions exceeding P1 billion.
According to Tengco, Pagcor voided P310 million in winnings for bettors after their verification showed that these individuals were banned from regulated gaming establishments, including Casino Filipino.
The DOJ has around 60,000 employees in its main offices and component agencies, namely, the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Corrections, Office of the Solicitor General, Office of the Government Counsel, Public Attorney’s Office, Parole and Probation Administration and Land Registration Authority.
For Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida, the agreement with Pagcor has significant implications on public trust and institutional credibility, saying that “the presence of government officials and employees in gaming establishments, in violation of existing laws and regulations, undermines the ethical standards we are sworn to uphold.”
“This data-sharing initiative is both timely and necessary. By enabling a more efficient and accurate identification system, we strengthen enforcement mechanisms and ensure that policies are not only written but meaningfully implemented. It allows Pagcor to better regulate access to gaming revenues and empowers the DOJ to reinforce discipline within its ranks,” he added.
