A party-list legislator on Tuesday sought a congressional inquiry into the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s P10-billion Philippine Lottery System following the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to temporarily stopped lottery operations of the agency.
In filing House Resolution 359, Rep. Ronnie Ong of the Ang Probisyano Party-list, also sought for an inquiry into the contracts entered into by the PCSO with the Philippine Gaming Management Corporation under Malaysia's Berjaya Corporation (PGMC/Berjaya) and the Pacific Online Systems Corporation (Pacific Online) for its National Online Lottery System (NOLS).
In his resolution, Ong, vice chairperson of the House committee on games and amusements, questioned how PGMC/Berjaya and the Pacific Online have managed to secure and keep their Equipment Lease Agreements with the PCSO for the past 24 years despite various irregularities.
"PCSO’s ELA with the PGMC/Berjaya, which was entered into in 1995 for a period of 8 years (but was actually started in 1999) covering the lease of lotto terminals or equipment for the operation of online lottery in Luzon, was found out to be disadvantageous to the government in a Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing last 2011. It was found out that PCSO was renting equipment from PGMC/Berjaya for $148 million when it can buy the same equipment for $25 million," Ong said in his resolution.
Ong said the Senate has recommended to the PSCO that it should renegotiate the rental fee with both PGMC /Berjaya and Pacific Online.
Despite the Senate recommendation to renegotiate the fee, the PGMC/Berjaya refused to budge, triggering a string of litigation from the trial court, to the Court of Appeals, up to the International Court of Arbitration.
And even after dragging PCSO into a costly and expensive legal battle, Ong said that it came as a big surprise that the company’s ELA was even extended by the PCSO from Aug. 22, 2015 to Aug. 21, 2018.
Even more ridiculous, Ong said, is the fact that while PCSO is paying millions to PGMC/Berjaya , the company still pressed on with its legal offensive and managed to secure another court injunction in 2017 to stop the gaming body to conduct bidding for its P10.9-billion National Online Lottery System for its Luzon operation.
Ong said the Supreme Court finally issued a ruling on Aug. 15,2018 that the PCSO can proceed with the bidding of the P10.9-billion NOLS which was later renamed as the Philippine Lottery System.
But instead of finally getting rid of PGMC/Berjaya, the company even managed to secure another extension of its ELA from Aug. 23,2018 to Aug. 1, 2019 because of PCSO’s alleged failure to "timely procure" the PLS. Pacific Online's ELA for Visayas operation was also extended for the same period.
Ong said that with the expiration of the PCSO's ELA with PGMC/Berjaya and Pacific Online last month, it is very important that Congress should now step in to ensure that proper procurement are observed and at the same time, rogue and abusive companies like PGMC/Berjaya can no longer do business with government agencies like the PCSO.
"There is a need to stop the irregularities, violations, disadvantageous terms and/or corruption as regards PCSO contracts, gaming activities and bidding in line with the President’s directive to address the corrupt practices at the PCSO and among the operators of various games," Ong said in his resolution.
"Putting the PCSO in order and addressing the irregularities and violations in the past will help the public regain their trust in the PCSO and the government as a whole and will enable the agency to protect the people’s money and sustain its efforts to improve the conditions both of the urban poor and the indigent probinsyanos nationwide," the resolution added.