Efraim Genuino is finally ready to push back on all the criminal charges being thrown his way.
The embattled former Pagcor chairman is seeking to have all 39 charges filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed on the grounds that none of them – the 19 counts of graft and the 20 counts of malversation of public funds – have any basis.
According to Genuino, none of the facts presented by the Ombudsman did not indicate any criminal offense, giving him, at least in his own mind, a pass on all the charges that have been slapped on his name.
The ex-Pagcor boss had been charged earlier this year for a number of crimes, including illegal payments amounting to Php44 million that were sent to private entities – Batang Iwas-Droga (BIDA) Foundation, BIDA Production, Wildformat Inc. and Pencil First – without identifying their public purposes. Another Php50 million was also allegedly used to purchase production and sponsorship expenses for BIDA Foundation while yet another Php63 million was supposedly spent on the organization’s application for accreditation as a party-list group in the Philippines.
Another charge of malversation was also slapped on Genuino and a host of other individuals for allegedly diverting 300 tons of rice meant for victims of a typhoon in 2008. According to documents presented by the Ombudsman, Genuino was behind the move to swap 72,425 kilos of donated Thai rice for 64,858 kilos of angelica rice, all of which were likewise repackaged as electoral gifts from Genuino’s sons, Erwin and Anthony Genuino, during the 2010 elections.
The elder Genuino, though, doesn’t see anything wrong with what he’s done and through his attorney’s, he maintained that the funds that were used for BIDA Foundation’s promotional activities came from Pagcor’s private corporate funds, not public funds.
“Without public funds, there can be no crime of malversation,” Genuino’s lawyers said, as quoted by GMA News.
“Monies raised by Pagcor assume a public character only when earmarked and remitted to the government for social development projects designed to benefit the general public,” the lawyers added, citing Sections 12 and 15 of the Pagcor Charter (Presidential Decree No. 1869).
