RP is better off without Legenda Hotel Casino
To The Point
Emil Jurado
Manila Standard
One would think that the hullabaloo surrounding the closure of the casino at Legenda Hotel in the Subic Freeport would have died by now. After all, the state-run agency that carried out this action—Pagcor—had quite clearly stated its case.
As the legally mandated government arm responsible for regulating all casino operations in the country, Pagcor was forced to close down the Legenda Casino after its operator, Legends International Resorts Ltd., failed to pay the government more than P365 million in gaming franchise dues and Subic Freeport’s share of the revenues.
But it seems that the Malaysian chief executive officer of Legends International, Khoo Boon Boon, stubbornly refuses to let the issue rest.
Recently, Khoo restated his earlier allegations against Pagcor, from allegedly pressuring his company to pay P60 million a year, to going against an order from the Olongapo Regional Trial Court and revert to its original contract. He has also accused Pagcor of putting in peril the jobs of the Legenda employees and supposedly scaring off foreign investors, just among a host of grave sins Pagcor purportedly committed.
Khoo also claims that Legends is under rehabilitation after the Olongapo RTC granted its petition and that it has every reason to continue operations because of the “considerable investments” that his company has supposedly put into Subic.
On the issue of “pressuring” the group to agree to a P60 million a year guaranteed gaming share, this only came about after Pagcor discovered that Legends had been cheating the government of its share of the revenues of the casino. Under the old agreement between Pagcor and Legends, the gaming share owed to the government was based on net income. Legends was found to be padding its expenses, thereby creating artificial losses.
When Pagcor discovered this duplicity, it decided to cancel the gaming license issued to the firm. The latter sought reconsideration and convinced Pagcor by proposing the P60 million a year guaranteed gaming share.
* * *
The duplicity doesn’t end there. Contrary to Khoo’s claims, it was Legends that proposed this payment scheme in a letter to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority dated July 8, 2000. Pagcor accepted this new scheme and Legends’s contract was amended later that year.
Meanwhile, the Olongapo RTC ruling, which Khoo says upholds the old contract, is now invalid. In the first place, Judge Eliodoro Ubiadas, who heard the case, had no authority to do uphold it because of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued by the Court of Appeals.
For going against the preliminary injunction, Ubiadas has been placed under preventive suspension by the Supreme Court.
* * *
On the issue of the displaced Legenda Casino employees, Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Efraim Genuino immediately addressed this problem by instructing the Human Resource Department of the state-run agency to issue application forms to them. In fact, Pagcor has received a total of 180 applications and as of last week, almost 90 percent of the number of displaced personnel has received help. The applications are currently being processed even as I this.
Khoo has one last claim, that Legends investments poured into Subic do not actually come from his own pocket but are money from its numerous creditors, both local and foreign. This means that the Malaysian hotel cum casino has been frying us in our fat by borrowing locally to put up their Subic hotel and casino.
The fact is that Legends International is heavily indebted, and one of its major creditors, Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets, filed a petition in Hong Kong for the appointment of a provisional liquidator to replace the firm’s current board of directors. Clearly, Legends is not satisfied with how the company is run.
Now, if Pagcor, by doing its job, managed to discourage investors of Khoo’s ilk from coming to the Philippines, I’d congratulate the agency for doing the country a huge favor. What landlord in his right mind would want tenants who do not pay rent?
As I said in previous column, if a government agency is criticized for doing its job and for protecting the rights of the country and the people it serves, what is this world coming to?
Emil Jurado
Manila Standard
One would think that the hullabaloo surrounding the closure of the casino at Legenda Hotel in the Subic Freeport would have died by now. After all, the state-run agency that carried out this action—Pagcor—had quite clearly stated its case.
As the legally mandated government arm responsible for regulating all casino operations in the country, Pagcor was forced to close down the Legenda Casino after its operator, Legends International Resorts Ltd., failed to pay the government more than P365 million in gaming franchise dues and Subic Freeport’s share of the revenues.
But it seems that the Malaysian chief executive officer of Legends International, Khoo Boon Boon, stubbornly refuses to let the issue rest.
Recently, Khoo restated his earlier allegations against Pagcor, from allegedly pressuring his company to pay P60 million a year, to going against an order from the Olongapo Regional Trial Court and revert to its original contract. He has also accused Pagcor of putting in peril the jobs of the Legenda employees and supposedly scaring off foreign investors, just among a host of grave sins Pagcor purportedly committed.
Khoo also claims that Legends is under rehabilitation after the Olongapo RTC granted its petition and that it has every reason to continue operations because of the “considerable investments” that his company has supposedly put into Subic.
On the issue of “pressuring” the group to agree to a P60 million a year guaranteed gaming share, this only came about after Pagcor discovered that Legends had been cheating the government of its share of the revenues of the casino. Under the old agreement between Pagcor and Legends, the gaming share owed to the government was based on net income. Legends was found to be padding its expenses, thereby creating artificial losses.
When Pagcor discovered this duplicity, it decided to cancel the gaming license issued to the firm. The latter sought reconsideration and convinced Pagcor by proposing the P60 million a year guaranteed gaming share.
* * *
The duplicity doesn’t end there. Contrary to Khoo’s claims, it was Legends that proposed this payment scheme in a letter to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority dated July 8, 2000. Pagcor accepted this new scheme and Legends’s contract was amended later that year.
Meanwhile, the Olongapo RTC ruling, which Khoo says upholds the old contract, is now invalid. In the first place, Judge Eliodoro Ubiadas, who heard the case, had no authority to do uphold it because of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued by the Court of Appeals.
For going against the preliminary injunction, Ubiadas has been placed under preventive suspension by the Supreme Court.
* * *
On the issue of the displaced Legenda Casino employees, Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Efraim Genuino immediately addressed this problem by instructing the Human Resource Department of the state-run agency to issue application forms to them. In fact, Pagcor has received a total of 180 applications and as of last week, almost 90 percent of the number of displaced personnel has received help. The applications are currently being processed even as I this.
Khoo has one last claim, that Legends investments poured into Subic do not actually come from his own pocket but are money from its numerous creditors, both local and foreign. This means that the Malaysian hotel cum casino has been frying us in our fat by borrowing locally to put up their Subic hotel and casino.
The fact is that Legends International is heavily indebted, and one of its major creditors, Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets, filed a petition in Hong Kong for the appointment of a provisional liquidator to replace the firm’s current board of directors. Clearly, Legends is not satisfied with how the company is run.
Now, if Pagcor, by doing its job, managed to discourage investors of Khoo’s ilk from coming to the Philippines, I’d congratulate the agency for doing the country a huge favor. What landlord in his right mind would want tenants who do not pay rent?
As I said in previous column, if a government agency is criticized for doing its job and for protecting the rights of the country and the people it serves, what is this world coming to?
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
6:49 AM
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