The party-list group Puwersa Ng Bayaning Atleta on Saturday said it would file graft charges against former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima before the Office of the Ombudsman for his alleged involvement in the diversion of casino funds intended for sports development.
Apart from the filing of graft charges, PBA spokesperson Jericho “Koko” Nograles said that PBA would also push for a deeper congressional probe on how and why Purisima was able to lay his hands on a fund that is supposed to be used to finance the sports program of the Philippine Sports Commission.
“This is quite puzzling because for one Purisima has nothing to do with sports being the former head of the PNP. What is his legal personality to even represent the PSC that allowed him to secure the sports body’s casino share? There is really something more about this casino fund story,” Nograles said.
Nograles said the PBA is now consulting its lawyers and are collecting all the facts needed to build their case against Purisima and his possible cohorts in the reported fund diversion scam that denied hundreds of Filipino athletes the needed support for their training.
PBA is referring to the alleged diversion of close to P1 billion of funds representing the share of the PSC from the earnings of First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp., a casino operator based in Northern Luzon, from January 2012 to June 2015.
PSC chairman Richie Garcia said the sports commission did not receive the amount.
PBA cited documents showing that the P1-billion PSC fund from First Cagayan Leisure was received by certain “Alan La Madrid Purisima” although he has no official connection with the sports body.
“Who authorized First Cagayan Leisure to direct the funds to Purisima and why?” Nograles asked as he noted that these are the questions that need to be answered if when an investigation is conducted on the casino fund diversion scam.
“It’s already bad that the country’s sporting sector has been long suffering from neglect and funding constraints but it’s even worse that the very little funds that are supposed to be for the training of our athletes actually end up in someone else’s pocket,” Nograles lamented.
Nograles added that the claim of Chairman Garcia that PSC has been getting only 2.5 percent from the country’s casino operators should also been looked into. He said the law requires casino operators to remit five percent of its earnings to the sports commission.
Nograles said that a congressional investigation on this casino fund diversion issue will be PBA’s first order business in the next Congress as he noted that there is really a need to conduct a full inventory on all sources of funding for Philippine sports development.