STANLEY HO AND GLO THE HOE
There should be no objection to the plan to privatize Pagcor. Neither should there be any objection if Stanley Ho, the gambling lord of Macau would buy into the operations of Pagcor, reportedly with some big-time operators from Las Vegas. However, Mr. Ho has such a terrible and questionable management style bordering on the criminal when it comes to running his businesses that we are better off without him. Privatization will stop powerful people close to Malacanang from dipping their hands into the coffers of Pagcor. President Arroyo will be deprived of hundreds of millions of Pesos from the so-called "special fund" from Pagcor, and as far as we are concerned, there should be no objection to that either. We never know how the money is spent anyway, because disbursemens are not audited. So what else is there to do? Make sure that the sale or the privatization process is transparent. With that, government should get the right price for it. And because Pagcor is government-owned, its privatization must be done thru public bidding to avoid suspicions of large sums of money changing hands as a result of a negotiated sale. Lastly, the state should never be involved in gambling. Gloria's government refuses to legalize jueteng, but its gambling tentacles have spread all over the country. The fact that Pagcor is legal and jueteng is not hardly makes any difference. It is still gambling by whatever name one would like to call it.
There should be no objection to the plan to privatize Pagcor. Neither should there be any objection if Stanley Ho, the gambling lord of Macau would buy into the operations of Pagcor, reportedly with some big-time operators from Las Vegas. However, Mr. Ho has such a terrible and questionable management style bordering on the criminal when it comes to running his businesses that we are better off without him. Privatization will stop powerful people close to Malacanang from dipping their hands into the coffers of Pagcor. President Arroyo will be deprived of hundreds of millions of Pesos from the so-called "special fund" from Pagcor, and as far as we are concerned, there should be no objection to that either. We never know how the money is spent anyway, because disbursemens are not audited. So what else is there to do? Make sure that the sale or the privatization process is transparent. With that, government should get the right price for it. And because Pagcor is government-owned, its privatization must be done thru public bidding to avoid suspicions of large sums of money changing hands as a result of a negotiated sale. Lastly, the state should never be involved in gambling. Gloria's government refuses to legalize jueteng, but its gambling tentacles have spread all over the country. The fact that Pagcor is legal and jueteng is not hardly makes any difference. It is still gambling by whatever name one would like to call it.
(Image from http://www.pagcor.ph/)
