PAGCOR ‘washes hands’ over Okada brouhaha

THE Philippine Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the country’s gaming regulator, has washed its hands over the “intra-corporate dispute” involving the shareholders and officers of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI), operator of ‘Okada Manila.’

In a statement on June 6, 2022, PAGCOR resisted being painted as “siding” with one of the protagonists, the group of Kazuo Okada ang oligarch, Tony Boy Cojuangco, who on May 31, 2022, managed to “take back” the control of the integrated leisure and gaming hotel being managed at that time by Hajime Tokuda.

Tokuda, according to a report by ‘bilyonaryo.com’ also on June 6, 2022, said he has filed serious illegal detention and kidnapping charges against Cojuangco and Okada before the Department of Justice.

Tokuda said he had to “beg for his life” when he was forcefully removed from the Grand Ballroom of Okada by the men of Okada and Cojuangco and forced to board a vehicle.

He further alleged that Cojuangco and Okada arrived at the hotel with at least 50 “goons,” added the report.

“All that PAGCOR did was to follow the law and court processes,” it averred.

“In fact, in his letter dated May 4, 2022, Atty. Roderick R. Consolacion, PAGCOR’s Chief Legal Counsel told the lawyers of the contending groups that ‘it is for the Supreme Court to resolve the merits of the pending case.’

“In the meantime, the Status Quo Ante Order (SQAO) is effective immediately by express directive of the Supreme Court and thus must be respected by PAGCOR and the parties, until lifted or otherwise the status quo is changed by the court,” the statement added.

PAGCOR said it is making the clarification to “emphasized its neutrality” in the ongoing brouhaha at Okada.

“PAGCOR has only recognized and will only recognize, the orders of the Supreme Court and will exercise its authority as regulator without violating or disrupting the SQAO and other orders issued by the Supreme Court,” it further said.