Strike Three Against Pagcor

April 24, 1998 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 805-98 STRIKE THREE AGAINST PAGCOR The Regional Trial Court in Angeles City, Branch 57, last Tuesday (April 21, 1998) enjoined PAGCOR from closing the Mimosa Regency Casino and from disrupting its operations. The Court further ordered PAGCOR to remove all notices and stop all public announcements declaring that the Mimosa Regency Casino is closed and considering any gambling therein illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. After a hearing marred by the refusal of PAGCOR to recognize the authority of the court and a walk-out (with permission of the court) by the government lawyers from the proceedings, Presiding Judge Omar T. Viola ruled that the uncontested evidence presented by Mondragon's lawyer Fernando R. Arguelles, Jr. of the Romulo Law Office showed that PAGCOR was threatening to close the Mimosa Regency Casino in violation of their agreement to go into arbitration in the settlement of their differences. Judge Viola's order will keep Mimosa Regency Casino in operation until the final outcome of the case filed by Mondragon. LLphil This is the third time that PAGCOR was frustrated in its attempts to close the Mimosa Regency Casino. Last November 14, 1997, an Oversight committee formed by President Fidel V. Ramos, precisely to look into complaints by PAGCOR, categorically stated that no evidence was submitted to it that would warrant a reasonable conclusion that there has been intentional violations of the contract by Mondragon. The second instance was when the House of Representatives did not act on the report prepared by its committee on games and amusements. Congress adjourned without the report being even reborted out on the floor. The latest rebuke from Judge Viola came at a time when impartial observers have started speculating that the series of reverses suffered by Mrs. Alice Reyes, Chairman of PAGCOR, is the consequence of her refusal to recognize the greater drawing power of the Mimosa Regency Casino for the patronage of high rollers. Mrs. Alice Reyes has been complaining that many of the patrons of PAGCOR have migrated to the Mimosa Regency Casino which offers both world-class entertainment and international gaming practices.