Gaming outlets to remain closed until probe ends

MANILA, Philippines — The ban on all gaming operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) – including the popular lotto – will remain until the probe on alleged corruption in the agency is completed, Malacañang said yesterday.

“The President said he is thoroughly investigating to identify the people involved as soon as possible. So, until such time and until the investigation is not yet finished, everything will remain closed,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told radio station dzMM.

Asked how long the investigation would take, Panelo replied, “The President acts fast. You’ve seen how he promptly ordered the closure” of PCSO’s gambling operations.

Last Friday, President Duterte ordered the shutdown of all PCSO-licensed gaming operations, citing “massive corruption” in the agency. Panelo had claimed that as much as 70 percent of PCSO revenues were lost to corruption.

He also claimed PCSO irregularities were made possible by a “grand conspiracy of all players and participants of all gaming operations.”

Some sectors have expressed concern over the effect of the ban on the delivery of medical assistance to poor patients.

More than 528,000 patients benefited from PCSO’s individual medical assistance program while more than 200 requests for medicines were approved under the medicine donation program, according to the agency’s latest accomplishment report.

The agency generated a total of P63.56 billiozn from its lotto, keno, small town lottery, traditional and instant sweepstakes last year.

Panelo reiterated that the giving of financial aid to needy patients would not be affected, as there are other agencies involved in providing similar assistance.

He also maintained that the President’s directive was based on credible information.

“The President won’t do that if he did not receive confirmed reports from his subordinates,” he said. 

Justice Secretary Menardo Gueverra said he has formally ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into reported corruption in the PCSO.

In Department Order 384, Guevarra directed the NBI to conduct a fact-finding investigation and case build-up on the “alleged graft and corrupt practices in the PCSO and various gaming operations.”

The Department of Justice chief told investigators to file appropriate charges against PCSO officials and personnel found liable “if evidence warrants.”

Guevarra also required NBI director Dante Gierran to regularly submit progress report on the probe. 

 As of yesterday, the Philippine National Police said it has closed 6,313 lotto stores; 20,241 small town lottery kiosks, 190 STL drawing centers and 2,762 Peryahan ng Bayan outlets nationwide since Duterte’s order. A total of 778 Keno shops were also shut down.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he would issue a memorandum circular directing local officials to suspend the business or mayor’s permit issued to PCSO establishments.

“We have the order of the President, it follows that the mayors should suspend their mayor’s and business permits for STL franchises in their respective municipalities,” he said.

In defending Duterte’s order, Guevarra said the licenses of private gaming operators are “not a contractual right but a mere privilege that may be revoked at any time by the state.”

“The President has the authority to order the suspension, even the termination, of PCSO-licensed gaming operations upon prima facie proof that licensees are not faithfully complying with their legal obligation to remit the correct amount of the government’s share in revenues or that their operations are tainted by fraud, deceit, or corruption,” he stressed.

Case inventory

At the Supreme Court (SC), Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin has ordered an inventory of all cases in courts involving the PCSO.

In a circular issued upon Bersamin’s instruction, Court Administrator Midas Marquez directed first and second level courts to submit summaries of PCSO cases handled by their respective courts since January 2018.

“In view of serious allegations of massive corruption involving small town lottery and other gaming franchises issued by the PCSO, some of which have reportedly reached the courts, all judges and branch clerks of court are hereby ordered to inform the Office of the Court Administrator of all their cases involving the PCSO and their respective status, if any, whether pending or terminated, filed beginning January 2018 until the present,” read the order. Marquez gave the judges until Aug. 15 to comply.

This was not the first time that the SC acted on a controversy hounding the PCSO.

Last March, Marquez issued a memorandum calling on judges in Mandaluyong regional trial court to be more circumspect in granting temporary restraining orders (TROs) and writ of preliminary injunctions (WPIs) in cases involving PCSO franchises.

The SC official reminded judges to follow the requisites in granting TROs and WPIs after receiving complaint from PCSO chairman Anselmo Pinili regarding a court issuance favoring an STL operator whose agency agreement had been terminated for non-remittance of funds to PCSO.

As thousands of workers are poised to lose jobs with the shutdown of PCSO’s gambling operations, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is preparing emergency employment and other necessary assistance to affected individuals.

“We will help dislocated PCSO workers through emergency employment,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo Benavidez said they have yet to receive reports of displacement.

He said aside from emergency employment from DOLE, affected PCSO workers may avail themselves of unemployment insurance from the Social Security System (SSS).

PCSO employees, he said, are government employees and those likely to be affected by the closure are employed by franchisees.

“They just need to secure from DOLE certificate of involuntary termination before applying for unemployment insurance,” Benavidez said.

He said workers displaced due to business closure and other valid reasons can avail themselves of unemployment insurance from SSS for two months.

He said unemployment insurance is equal to half of the employee’s monthly salary.

“It’s about P16,000 a month or amount higher than the prescribed minimum pay,” Benavidez said. 

Ban temporary

Sen. Christopher Go said the shutdown is temporary anyway or until the agency is reformed and rid of corruption.

“He (Duterte) said this is temporary as long as there’s no corruption,” Go told reporters yesterday.

He said many have been calling on the President to reconsider his order as tens of thousands of jobs depend on PCSO games. “The President said, don’t worry, just remove corruption, and he will restore (franchises),” the senator said.

In disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission, PCSO equipment suppliers Philippine Gaming Management Corp. (PGMC) and Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC) said they hope the shutdown would not be for long.

Senators have also called on the President to be more detailed on his corruption allegations.

“If there are allegations of corruption, we must know who are behind these to resolve the matter because many depend on the health assistance (from the PCSO),” Sen. Grace Poe told reporters.

Sen. Nancy Binay appealed to DOLE to help displaced workers under its Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.

“If each outlet has an average of four employees, with more than 30,000 franchise stations closed, we’re looking at a minimum of 120,000 displaced workers,” Binay said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said if Duterte wants to purge PCSO of corruption, he should go after his corrupt officials who connive with jueteng operators.

“I am worried that the President is setting double standards: being heavy handed against selected local licensed gambling operations such as the PCSO on the one hand, but lax and permissive towards Chinese online gambling and jueteng,” she said.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, for his part, proposed the privatization of PCSO. “An alternative to the total banning of gaming activities operated, licensed and franchised by the PCSO would be for the government to just let the private sector operate lottos and casinos and then collect guaranteed proceeds,” Gatchalian said.

Meanwhile, militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said President Duterte’s order stopping PCSO’s gambling operations was for “shock and awe” effect and not to stop corruption. – With  Paolo Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Romina Cabrera, Rhodina Villanueva, Rainier Allan Ronda, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Artemio Dumlao