MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) official disclosed yesterday that the 80-year-old grandmother from Olongapo City who claimed that her grandson stole the winning ticket of the 6/55 Grand Lotto on-line lottery draw last Nov. 27 made another effort to prevent the release of the P 741-million jackpot.
Lawyer Lauro Patiag, PCSO chief legal officer, said the grandmother, whose identity was withheld, submitted another sworn statement last Thursday asking the PCSO to defer the release of the jackpot pending resolution of her claim over the winning ticket.
The PCSO said the ticket with the winning number combination 11-16-42-47-31-37 with a jackpot of P741,176,323.20 was sold by the lotto outlet owned by Necitas Garcia and located inside the Royal Duty Free at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in Olongapo City.
A 60-year-old balikbayan from New York City showed up last Thursday at the PCSO in Pasay City and claimed the P741.176.323.20 jackpot, ending wild speculations on who the lone winner was.
Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, PCSO general manager, told The STAR that the winner was with his family shopping at the Royal Duty Free at the Subic Bay Freeport in Olongapo City when he decided to buy five lotto tickets using the lucky pick system wherein the computer picks the number combination for the bettor.
“While the winner was claiming his prize, the woman appeared in my office to follow up her complaint. She had no idea that somebody had claimed the prize,” said Patiag.
Patiag said that at that point it was impossible to stop the release of the jackpot because the winner presented an authentic winning ticket and he had two valid identification cards, the only requirement for claiming a jackpot prize.
“Only a court order can stop the release of the jackpot prize,” he said.
Patiag, however, assured the woman that they would conduct an investigation and verify the claim of the widow that the ticket belongs to her.
The investigation includes the verification of her tickets submitted to the PCSO and a final check of the computer records of the Olongapo City lotto outlet to determine if it had the same set of numbers submitted by the winner.
The PCSO legal office will make a report on their findings and it would be up to the grandmother to pursue her case in court.
“It’s already beyond our jurisdiction,” Patiag said.
Meanwhile, the balikbayan who claimed the P741-million Grand Lotto jackpot has asked a bank to convert a portion of his winnings dollar bills, a source said.
The source said that at least two checks of a private and government bank were issued to the winner the day he claimed his prize at the PCSO central office in Pasay City.
“The winner converted P16 million of his money to dollar bills,” the source said.
The source theorized that the winner would use the dollar bills for his trip back to the US next week.
The winner and his family of three were on vacation in Subic when he bought the winning ticket.
PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said it took a week before the winner knew that he won the jackpot.
He left the winning ticket in a drawer while they were completing their tour in some parts of Luzon.
The winner, who is an architect working at an interior design company in New York City, is set to process his retirement papers and return to the Philippines to live a simple life on the interest of the biggest lotto jackpot in PCSO history.