Questions
raised over ‘perks’

Pagcor CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. said his princely hotel accommodations received from Japanese businessman in Macau was just industry-wide tradition or custom.

Well, and good. But if one gets $6,000 per day hotel room in addition to his wife and children, I suppose that’s no longer just industrial perks. And he even went to the extent of focusing his return of a pricey Chanel bag to show good faith in his dealings with his host.

Common sense shows that the $110,000 of perks from a Japanese businessman could not have just been an industry custom. It must surely have been to assure the permit to operate a casino in Manila.

If those are the standards of conducting business with government offices and government corporations, then something must really wrong with our sense of morality and our concept of what is right or wrong.

Perhaps, Naguiat simply dismissed his inclusion in the US securities act as having been caught in the power struggle between the boards of Wynn Resorts and Japanese businessman Kasuo Okaeda.

Of the $110,000 purportedly budgeted to curb favor with two Philippines gaming officials, more than $50,000 had been spent on Naguiat’s visit plus $20,000 given to the Philippine delegation for shopping and gaming.

Presidential spokesman Ramon Lacierda said Naguiat did not personally benefit from that. But if he had brought with him his wife, children and nanny, there could not be justification that he did not personally benefit from it.

That certainly does not adhere strictly to the anti-corruption stance of President Benigno Aquino III even if Lacierda had immediately exculpated Naguiat from the fallout of that Macau visit.

***

The Court of Appeals dismissed the certiorari petition by SM Prime Holdings Inc. against the Bacolod RTC’s denial of a temporary restraining order against the provincial government on the sale and lease of its 7.7 hectare property in Bacolod to Ayala Land.

Actually, they simply denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the SMPHI to rescind the decision by Bacolod RTC Judge Estanio Libutan Jr. denying the petition for a TRO and a writ of preliminary injunction against Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. and members of the provincial government’s awards and disposal committee on real properties.

In short, SMPHI contended that it was the winning bidder of the July 8, 2011 public bidding for the prime government property.

The CA decision, we hope, will pave the way the way for the Commission on Audit to grant the sale of the property to Ayala Land. Several local non-government organizations, notably the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry , have filed appeals to the COA to expedite the release of its decision on the property transaction.

There is no more reason for it to further temporize on its decision to award the contract. That transaction is expected to hasten the city’s development into a major commercial and tourism destination that could also help uplift the lives of hundreds of local residents.

****

Well, it is good news to constituents of former Rep. Ignacio Arroyo that his remains will be brought to the province for two days after its arrival this week in Manila.

We hope that the refusal by Aleli, the wife of Iggy, to pay the 90,000 pounds due the London Mortuary which had held Iggy’s body for more than 25 days and the fees due of the mortuary solicitor will not throw a last minute hitch for the return here of Arroyo’s remains.

Aleli, wife of Iggy, refused to foot the bill because she did not recognize the jurisdiction of the UK court in the standoff between her and Grace Ibuna, Iggy’s companion for several years, until his death.

The body of Iggy will be reportedly flown to Bacolod on Wednesday evening and will be flown back to Manila Friday morning.

Now details of the two-day stay here of Iggy’s remains still have to be made clear on where it will be brought. Initially, it said that it will be in Bacolod… but we understand that his erstwhile friends and relatives here had announced that it will be brought to the family hacienda in Isabela.

At least, for the moment, that’s how things stand. Minus of course last minute hitches in arrangements. Although both Grace and Aleli had reportedly agreed on a “no-hitch” arrangements.

Hints of a protracted and exciting lawsuit were made by lawyer L. De Veyra, Ibuna’s counsel.

In short, he contented that Aleli was not legally the wife of Iggy because the nullity of his previous marriage to Marilyn Jacinto, his first wife, had not been reported to the local registry in a Pampanga town where Iggy and Marilyn were married.

Anyway, that’s a matter for the courts to decide. And we can only watch and wait for the final decision on which hinges the disposition of Iggy’s vast wealth if Senator Panfilo Lacson’s original estimate is to be taken at face value.

Like most Negrenses, I remain puzzled at how Iggy, managed to build such a vast fortune when, as among the early friends of the Arroyos, we used to visit Iggy at his rented house at Lacson Street.

But the fact is he really became one of the wealthiest members of the House of Representatives.

Well, that’s history.*

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