Raps poised vs ex-PCSO execs in P42-B supply deal

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is set to file charges against former agency officials who approved a 50-year contract worth P42 billion with an Australian company for the supply of the thermal paper that the PCSO uses for lotto tickets.

In a resolution approved on May 25, the PCSO board approved the filing of cases against Rosario Uriarte, former general manager and vice chair; and directors Jose Taruc, Raymundo Roquero, Ma. Fatima Valdes and Manuel Morato.

The five were members of the old PCSO board who signed Resolution 2171 which approved the contractual joint venture agreement (CJVA) between the PCSO and the Australian-based TMA Group.

The incumbent board claims the deal is “iniquitous and grossly disadvantageous to the government” and has declared the joint venture agreement null and void “for patent violation of applicable laws, rules and regulations.”

According to Aleta Tolentino, an incumbent PCSO director, charges of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) and the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184) will be filed against the five in the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We will be creating a special legal team that will prosecute the case in coordination with the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC). We intend to file the case before the end of the month,” she said.

Tolentino noted that only Sergio Valencia, the PCSO chair at the time, did not sign the resolution.

“When the board of directors of the PCSO’s previous administration submitted the deal for approval in 2009, he (Valencia) had questioned it. He really didn’t want it,” she said.

The joint venture agreement provided for the establishment of a thermal coating plant primarily for export sales of thermal paper. The plant was also supposed to provide the PCSO with thermal paper.

Under the contract, the Australian firm was to invest P4.4 billion in the project, while the value of the paper contract which the PCSO would pay more than 50 years would be P42 billion, said Tolentino.

The OGCC, in its opinion, also declared the “supply agreement in the guise of a CJVA void and inexistent because it was undertaken to circumvent Republic Act No. 9184 in the procurement of supplies and evade COA (Commission on Audit) audit.”

Sought for comment, Morato said he was willing to face the charges “anytime.”

“It’s pure harassment. I don’t know what they are talking about. Where did that P42 billion figure come from? Actually under the contract, the PCSO would not spend even one peso. It’s actually the best government contract I have ever reviewed,” he said.

He said the deal between PCSO and TMA was for 25 years, “renewable for another 25 years but it has to go through an evaluation every five years.”