The Coffeehouses of Pagcor

SOMETHING BREWIN' Coffeehouses in 18th Century London

IN 18^th CENTURY ENGLAND, at the height of the Restoration period, coffeehouses were a dime a dozen in the streets of London in the same way as with our internet cafés sprouting at every corner in the city. Unlike our modern coffee bars, however, where we talk of iPods and one night stands, London coffeehouses at that time where a source of literary connections and political intrigue for its customers. 

Law, politics, culture and the arts were regular topics discussed regularly by its caffeinated patrons, most of whom were prominent London folks; politicians, authors, businessmen, all gathered in these brewing coffeehouses and converse practically everything right above their trailing coffee cups.

But today’s coffeehouses are so remote from its original groove. Cafés in pre-Victorian London had the feel of a fraternity in them. These were the places where much of the major issues of the day were given a thorough discussion and evaluation by its frequent visitors. In fact, two of the leading advertisers of this pre-speakeasy joints were magazine editors, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, themselves heavy coffee drinkers, who published much of what has been said and done in these coffeehouses in The Tatler, a magazine edited by both writers. And since most of these caffeine connoisseurs were influential folks in London and had significant positions in the government, the discussions circulating within these houses and its corresponding publication afterwards had, at times, made significant contributions to public policies more than the protestations of the Whigs and the Tories, foremost political parties of that time, combined.

Not only did it generate a discursive attitude among its people, but these cafés were producing an income that would sustain Londoners all the way through to the industrialization of the city. The amount of coffee consumption and its monetary underling was instrumental in their quest for finding the right spot as far as soliciting ideas from the people are concerned. And regardless of the repression at times, as exemplified by the Victorian principles of propriety and regulation, which slowed down the consumption of coffee among Londoners at some point, it has somehow enjoyed a revival just before the Industrial Revolution took place. Today, however, coffeehouses are still very much a part of the London scene, but unlike its heyday, which saw its strings tied with the social and political life of its people, modern renditions of these cafés have now moved on to some other things which sometimes doesn’t have to do with the government or the society at all. Not until it has found its new home in the Philippines. 

You would not think that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) is the new coffeehouse in town. Thanks in part to P-Noy’s recapitulation of his 2^nd State of the Nation Address (SONA) that Pagcor burst into the scene as did Starbucks when it hit Davao City a few months ago. P-Noy, just before wrapping his harried state address, hinted that an excess of over P1 Billion had been splurged inside Pagcor offices out of some coffee intake, a sweeping allegation that has caught the ire and attention of the country.

NO IDEA Nobody could guess how much---Naguiat

But it was a pronouncement a decade late. In a span of almost ten years since 2001, Pagcor had appropriated millions of coffee money to its employees more than the NBA superstars get in their Philippine tour weeks ago when they received, according to SI.com, $400,000 each, a mere bean compared to the figures raised by Pagcor in its coffee dealings which had its highest price in 2005 with P172, 819, 600. 96. Preposterous or not, even if you combine the estimated income of these London coffeehouses from the time the Restoration period had started all the way through to the Industrial Revolution, a span of almost a century at least, the possible figures will still feel inferior in relation to the Pagcor question. It was simply too much. And because of its enormity and its potentially scandalous affair, the president in his SONA must have thought it revealing of the kind of practices some of these departments have, and used it somehow as a focal point of his message of ending the culture of negativity proliferating still in the government. 

The thought of spending over a billion in coffee consumption somehow insults those who have not made the habit of drinking one inside these cool offices. How ironic that this caffeine business had survived for nine long years, the same long years Arroyo stayed in power. And just as these election turncoats had caught up with GMA on her hospital bed, Pagcor’s anomalies also are now slowly checking in.

However, Promolabels Specialty Shop, the concessionaire of this entire coffee affair, maintained that there were no irregularities committed when Pagcor awarded them the deal. Consequently, Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan, owner of the said shop, and a franchise of Figaro’s, who enjoyed a whopping 64% profit out of the alleged deal, remained adamant despite constant allegations that she had acquired the deal without any public bidding, and that her husband, Johnny Tan, a good friend of Efraim Genuino, former Pagcor chief, who was said to be responsible for the overpricing of this coffee milieu since 2001. Tan said that the reason Promolabels was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) it’s because it is not a corporation, but a sole property of Tan herself. She also said that, as far as her knowledge goes, not one of the service providers in Pagcor underwent any bidding process, an observation perhaps that could potentially aggravate the situation since the administration, through the Senate, had already expressed its intent of questioning not only those coffee drinkers but also those who had boiled it for them.

“The budget this year for coffee is only P30 million. How are we able to do it with P30 million when they were doing it at P167 million. So obviously there’s something wrong, there was an obvious abuse of the consumption of coffee there. We disagree that it was poor math. We believe that there was widespread corruption in the consumption of coffee,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said, in a press briefing in Malacañang days following P-Noy’s revelation at the Lower House.

P30 million for this year’s coffee use may be considered too stale a budget per year compared to its 9-year run not so long ago, amounting up to P1, 007, 408, 908. 86. P933.664.57 (2001), P22,204,609.23 (2002), P29,804,628.60 (2003), P83,714,154.02 (2004), P172,819,600.96 (2005), P167,379,603.74 (2006), P119,670,645.01 (2007), P164,561,181.88 (2008), P162,917,571.58 (2009) and P83,403,251.29 from January to June (2010). Reading it further makes you feel dizzy. And it is not a question of poor math, nonetheless, as Genuino accused his critics of doing, but these figures indicate that poor accounting and a much better posturing may have been the reason why the sipping was so profuse.

GENUINE? Former Pagcor Chief Genuino

Yes, we missed out a lot of points in P-Noy’s SONA, particularly in his flip-flopping ties with Hacienda Luisita, his flighty relationship with the RH Bill and the unrelenting pressure of solidifying the peace process in Mindanao, but these issues, one way or the other, has had some coffee in it, whether in some secluded coffeehouse along Roxas Boulevard perhaps just a few blocks away from Pagcor's main office, or in some generous government agency like the corporation itself. We certainly can’t count the number of times coffee was served while they were busy discussing the distribution of lands to the farmers, debating over a condom or investigating a massacre somewhere in the outskirts of Maguindanao. Coffee was there, all the time. Perhaps P-Noy just hit the camel’s back right there, regardless of his shortcomings as a speaker. And whether Pagcor has used civet coffee, believed to be so expensive, or the usual 3-in-1 in its caffeinated program, a billion pesos is still too much for a coffee in an office like Pagcor to consume, even if you combine those 13 branches Genuino argued. What about those other drinks, a Coke or a mineral water perhaps, are they consuming it also in a billion ways? If there was, at least, one good point in P-Noy’s somehow shaky SONA, finding a detailed fiasco of a potentially large-scale corruption and in the premises of a quasi gambling den should definitely cover the whole sound of it, like some loud wang wang in our busy streets. 

And so these Pagcor coffeehouses are a far cry from the template of those popular cafés sprawling in the streets of London in 1709. The only difference probably were the topics being discussed inside, with the latter having the depth and development for a society, while the former having the depth and development for an office. We even wonder what kind of topics were discussed in these Pagcor coffeehouses while they drugged themselves with 3 to 4 cups of caffeine a day, or what they were probably thinking when an agreement of at least 9 figures per year in a span of 9 years would do to their quivering nerves. And now that this wang wang has sounded its alarm, they’d better hope that this coffee intake will soon find its rest, since the tolling of it would be so pronounced now that the effect of its caffeine has subsided.

Nobody, not even the current Pagcor chief, Cristino Naguiat, has any idea how much money did the corporation put in for this business alone prior to his stint as a chairman. At least we now know the figures, but the mere mention of it is anything but serviceable. The shoddiness and the overindulgence of the trade make it all so unbearable; while much of our classrooms are losing its chairs, tables, and teachers as fast as that raging flood of Ondoy in 2009. That amount should have been appropriated on some other things other than the sustaining effect of caffeine in their nerves, and perhaps there are more sensible things in this country other than socialization and the thought of having a "much-needed" break from the daily routine of a government institution which coffee has a lot to offer from. Unless you assume a relentless effort in their work out of consuming a lot of caffeinated stuff in a day, Pagcor's coffee affair is simply crazy.

So many things are at stake in here. Or in the resigned words of Naguiat, “Nobody could guess how much.” And he's right. How much of these figures go to the coffeehouses, and how much of these go the other way?



(photo: newphilrevolution.com)