DOJ junks raps vs Quezon City ‘peryahan’ operators

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has junked the criminal charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against the operators of “Peryahan ng Bayan” in Quezon City.

In a resolution released on Dec. 3, prosecutors of the DOJ task force on special cases dismissed for lack of probable cause the NBI complaint for illegal gambling under Republic Act 9287 against 15 employees of Globaltech Mobile Online Corp., which operates the peryahan stations.

The DOJ panel held that the respondents did not violate the law since the gambling operations were legal when the NBI conducted the raids last month despite revocation of their license to operate by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in 2016.

It was found during inquest proceedings that Globaltech was able to secure a status quo ante order against the PCSO resolution revoking its license from a Pasig City regional trial court (RTC) last year.

“The documents submitted by the PCSO and a letter from alleged complainant Marcelo Flores are not valid considering that these are not verified, self-serving and full of partiality and therefore are not sufficient to establish a valid warrantless arrest,” read the DOJ resolution signed by Assistant State Prosecutors Amenda Garcia and Florencio de la Cruz Jr. and Associate Prosecution lawyer Criselda Teoxon.

The DOJ cited records from the Pasig RTC Branch 161 showing that “the status quo ante order has not been set aside, reversed nor modified.”

DOJ prosecutors explained that the case reamins pending before the Court of Appeals where the PCSO filed a petition for certiorari questioning the RTC order.

“The PCSO petition clearly shows its recognition of the status quo ante order issued by the Pasig court. And there is no proof that a temporary restraining order (TRO) or injunctive relief has been issued by the appellate court,” the DOJ pointed out.

“During the implementation of the search warrant in the premises of Globaltech, its operation of the numbers game ‘Peryahan ng Bayan’ was covered by a valid license from the PCSO. The respondents could not be considered engaged in an illegal numbers game at the time they were arrested,” it added.

The respondents were arrested by the NBI based on the request of Flores, vice president of Great Platinum Gaming Online, who claimed that Globaltech’s operations were illegal.

The NBI secured four search warrants from Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of the Quezon City RTC before its teams from the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal raided several Globaltech stations.

The NBI made the arrests despite an internal memorandum stating that “the bureau would maintain the status quo ante order issued by the court.”

“It would be prudent to defer any application for search warrants against the establishments of Globaltech until the issue has been completely settled,” read the memorandum signed by NBI legal service division chief Joselito Amon.

The memo was approved by NBI assistant director Leo Edwin Leuterio.