Sen. Erwin castigates casinos

SENATE Committee on Games and Amusement Chairman Senator Erwin Tulfo is not buying the defense of casino managements that they are not aware that some of their players are government officials.

In an interview, Sen. Tulfo said, “they (casinos) cannot claim ignorance, suggesting that they did not know these (players) are government officials or working in DPWH just because they used fake IDs,” the lawmaker said.

“I thought they strictly implement their “Know Your Client” or KYC policy?” the lawmaker added.

Government officials and employees are strictly banned from gambling in casinos.

The veteran newsman was particularly referring to dismissed DPWH Bulacan 1st District Engr. Henry Alcanta, his assistant engineer, Brice Hernandez, and project engineer, Jaypee Mendoza.

The Senate investigation on the multi-billion flood control project last September 8 found that the three had been using fake identification cards (IDs) when frequenting casinos to circumvent the ban.

Using fake IDs allowed the three to gamble away hundreds of millions in “pilfered public funds” in a single day, Tulfo said.

Tulfo said Alcantara was found to be using the alias ‘Joseph Villegas’ while Hernandez has a driver’s license in the name of ‘Marvin De Guzman.’

Mendoza, for his part, adopted ‘Peejay Asuncion’ as his alias.

“If the casinos did their part in monitoring and reporting the transactions, Alcantara, Hernandez, and Mendoza would have been apprehended immediately, and their pilfering of public funds could have been stopped.”

Hernandez’s staunch denial of using a fake ID to cover his gambling habit led to his being cited in contempt and detention at the Senate.

“They (casinos) didn’t even raise a single red flag or report this to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), despite these individuals bringing in hundreds of millions in cash to the casino every single week,” Tulfo fumed.

Tulfo said the only reason casinos chose to remain silent is because they are profiting from the three DPWH officials.