PAGCOR Game Plan Tops In Transparency

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco continues to amaze with the way he has presided over the gaming agency, embracing transparency and governance rules, updating its regulatory function, and even embarking on pushing the country’s tourism program.

Photo Insert: PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco would rather risk reducing the gaming agency's income than be enmeshed in a moral conundrum: that of being the regulator and the regulated.

Upon his assumption into office last August, Tengco immediately programmed the privatization of PAGCOR's own casinos, in the process cutting the gaming agency’s own revenue stream. Imagine, closing down a part of one’s business, which means reducing – immediately—your own income generators.

At first impression, PAGCOR’s thrust is a shot in its foot, but the reality is that it is the right step for showing the public that there is transparency in its dealings. For Tengco, governance rules are a must in his stewardship of the gaming agency, which is the reason for his plan to privatize the casinos it operates which is lumped under the brand “Casino Filipino.”

Tengco would rather risk reducing PAGCOR’s income than be enmeshed in a moral conundrum: that of being the regulator and the regulated.

In the language of governance, what Tengco is promoting is to tiptoe out of a complex situation where lines are blurred. For instance, how can Tengco fully ensure that its own casinos do not violate its own stringent rules when they remain part of the gaming agency’s own operations?

And there are stringent rules that Tengco had mandated when he took over as head of PAGCOR. And that includes immediately revoking the license of casinos that get out of line, such as the Clark offshore gaming operation, which was found to have under its employ persons that were victims of human trafficking.

Upon discovering that human trafficking angle, Tengco immediately switched off that offending the offshore gaming operation’s business during a board meeting as part of PAGCOR’s team-up with government authorities.

He did this quickly on the draw, so to speak, and without fanfare. Self-effacing, Tengco, would rather endure the brickbats thrown at the agency knowing fully well that he is doing his part with transparency and governance at the top of his mind.

It is this transparency mindset that led Tengco to announce the forthcoming sale of the agency’s own casinos so PAGCOR can concentrate on just its regulatory function and in the process earn for the government at least P80 billion when it bids out the Casino Filipino brand. That means additional dividends that PAGCOR can chip into the national treasury.

In a way, Tengco will be able to concentrate fully on its regulatory function, and in so doing he has already updated the agency’s junket licensing and casino operation rules and even established a regulatory framework for online poker.

By ensuring a level playing field, PAGCOR will be able to grow its business and contribute substantial dividends to the government. This, he does, while poring over the agency’s expenditures.

In fact, Tengco’s eye for detail was so focused that he even poked his nose into the rental payments that PAGCOR is paying for the hotels and other establishments where Casino Filipinos are located.

And he found out that some of the establishments are collecting more than the others which runs smack on his transparency rules. We understand that what he found out surprised him and the other officials of PAGCOR

Outside of updating the regulatory manuals and peering into the finances of PAGCOR, Tengco has also set his sights on contributing to the country’s tourism push with a photo contest that will showcase the best places that local and foreign tourists can go to.

The contest has a great theme and it will allow budding photographers to submit photos of hitherto unknown places that will entice tourists to visit.

Dubbed “Sa’n tayo next,” the launching of the contest shows that Tengco has the interest of the country at heart as PAGCOR contributes its own take on nation-building. The rule of thumb is that each tourist that comes into the country, means one job created. Imagine what many photos of new tourist sites can do to the country’s coffers.

An avid golfer, we can say that in a par-5 hole, Tengco is two on with a possible eagle but a sure birdie, in the way he presides over PAGCOR. Touche’.

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