President Aquino displeased with PCSO board over thermal paper issue and ghost employees

A Palace insider says that President Aquino is currently displeased with the present Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board led by Margie Juico, Betty Nantes, Tolentino, and Maramba. The President reportedly lost face when the Australian ambassador called him up and told him about the thermal paper contract which the board reportedly rescinded without undertaking due diligence and legal audit procedures.


The supplier of the thermal paper being used by the PCSO is an Australian company. The company had a 50 year perfected contract with the agency. This contract has been rescinded by the new board. 


The President is thinking of changing the board. Reportedly, Juico has been offered an ambassadorial post but was rejected by Philip Juico, a close Aquino associate. Sources say that Popoy controls the steady stream of STL and loterya ng bayan contracts amounting to millions of pesos, while former PCSO chairman Manoling Morato says that Popoy and Publicist Dante Ang controls the huge PCSO PR funds.


Says Morato in his recent column about the PCSO thermal paper deal:

Much has been said about that so-called joint-venture contract between the PCSO and TMA Australia Group of Companies Limited Subsidiary.
For some reason or another, the present PCSO management headed by  Chairman Margie Juico cancelled a perfected contract and even called it a “midnight deal”.  How could it be a “midnight deal” when the unsolicited proposal was submitted on May 4, 2009?  We were replaced by P-Noy on June 30, 2010 through Executive Order 1. The contract was signed on Dec. 4, 2009.
The so-called joint venture between PCSO and TMA of Australia went through the process, including a Swiss Challenge. It was published in all the important newspapers.

Apparently, the truth behind the cancellation was the entry of a losing bidder. Reportedly, this losing bidder approached a board director. That board director, who is a Kababayan and very close friend of Juico, had a "deal" allegedly with the losing bidder. The deal was cemented by the director's "ghost employee" who was also rumoured to be the conduit of several gambling lords, STL operators in Luzon and others. 


This writer made several inquiries and found out that the President made a silent probe unto the PCSO and validated several accusations made against Juico and the present board. 


This space welcomes any reaction from Juico and the PCSO board members. A deeper probe into the PCSO scandal is forthcoming. Congress intends to investigate the current and past boards this July.