Manila, Philippines - Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Manuel Morato clashed yesterday over the lease agreement on online lottery draw machines during the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the PCSO fund mess.
Morato dropped the bomb against Enrile who was grilling him on why past PCSO directors allowed a lease of the machines from its supplier Philippine Gaming and Management Corp. (PGMC)-Berjaya.
Morato revealed during the hearing that the firm Ponce Enrile Reyes and Manalastas law office or Pecabar was tapped as lawyers of the PGMC when lotto operations were being opposed in 1995.
The PCSO supposedly leased 3,525 lotto machines from PGMC-Berjaya, which was paid 4.3 percent of gross lotto sales generated from the use of the machines.
Enrile argued that the government could have saved money if the machines were purchased rather than leased.
Under the agreement, the PCSO had the option to buy the machines for P25 million on the last year of its eight-year contract with the supplier.
But instead of exercising this option, the PCSO renewed the lease at a higher percentage of gross sales with the contract to run up to 2015.
“We do not have expertise to run the machines,” Morato told Enrile.
This prompted Enrile to lecture the former PCSO official that the PCSO could have bought the expertise, which could be charged to the 15 percent operations fund of the agency.
Morato tried to answer back, but a visibly irked Enrile said: “No, I don’t want to argue with you because you are not a lawyer, you did not study the contract.”
It was at this point that Morato mentioned that Enrile’s law firm Pecabar “lawyered” for PGMC when the government’s decision to operate lotto was brought to the Supreme Court.
“Correct, correct. I do not deny that. We were not lawyers of PGMC. We were lawyers in the case of PGMC in order to win the case against Kilosbayan which questioned the contract,” Enrile said, adding that Pecabar was not a retained law firm of PGMC.
“That’s why you are misleading the committee,” Enrile added.
Enrile threatened to cite Morato for contempt when he again motioned that he wanted to rebut the Senate president’s statements.
Enrile explained that his law firm was hired on a second case filed against PGMC when the contract was reformed to comply with the law. “And this is the lease contract we were talking about,” he said.
“Pecabar’s job is finished. So don’t say we are lawyers of the PGMC. In fact, I was not a member of the team then since I was on leave,” Enrile said.
The Senate president said he had to confront Morato over the issue because he got wind of reports of Morato telling some people that he will reveal Pecabar’s role in approving lotto operations.
“I know that you have been saying this to people that we are lawyers there, I might get embarrassed. I’m not embarrassed because I know the history of this case,” Enrile said.
When Enrile insinuated why Morato was overly defensive about the renewal of the lease for PGMC, Morato said he was only looking after the interest of PCSO.
“I don’t know why you are so overly defensive, why you’re very adamant in saying that the contract of PCSO --even in the case of the thermal paper --you are very emphatic that it is good,” Enrile said.
Enrile then ended the “exchange” in open hearing by saying that he respects Morato’s opinion anyway.
Estrada vs Morato
Prior to this, Senate President Pro- Tempore Jinggoy Estrada also grilled Morato over his former television program “Dial M” at government run NBN Channel 4, where PCSO funds were also used in its operations.
Morato explained that the TV program was needed to enable the PCSO to advertise and encourage the public to bet on lotto games.
At one point, Morato even kidded that M meant “murder,” apparently taking a dig at Estrada whose father, ex-President Joseph Estrada, was implicated by Morato in the disappearance of former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. employee Edgar Bentain.
Morato did not tell anything about the Bentain case but he said he was merely joking when Jinggoy asked if “murder” is also in the PCOS charter. Morato said he was just kidding and added that M could also mean Maggie, referring to his co-host Maggie de la Riva.
Estrada grilled Morato over the expenses of the TV program, which the latter defended.
As this developed, Morato also criticized incumbent PCSO chair Margarita Juico for hiring a private company for “public affairs and reputation management.” EON Stakeholder Relations Firm struck a deal with PCSO after Juico became chairman.
Morato pointed out that this was illegal although it was said to be charged to the agency’s public relations fund.
When confronted over this issue by Estrada, Juico said she had no knowledge about the contract, which she claimed was entered into by general manager Ferdinand Rojas II.
Morato showed reporters after the hearing a billing statement sent by EON to PCSO for P181,500 for October 2010.
Morato said that Ang was even behind former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “Gloria Labandera” campaign in the past.
Rojas, who Juico said is in Hong Kong, was asked to attend the next Senate hearing.