House inquiry on PCSO’s e-lotto deal pushed

PCSO LOTTO. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers sought on Monday a congressional inquiry into a supposedly disadvantageous deal between an e-lotto operator and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) that would expose the latter to lawsuits.

In House Resolution No. 1547, Barbers, a senior lawmaker, asked the committee on public accounts to look into the contract signed by the PCSO with e-lotto operator Pacific Online Systems Corp. despite questions raised by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

The memorandum of agreement for a one-year trial run of a web-based application betting platform (WABP) was signed between PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles and Pacific Online Systems Corp on Aug. 30 last year.

Barbers noted that when the OGCC reviewed the proposal submitted by Pacific Online Systems Corp., it pointed out “several disadvantageous conditions therein.”

“It is now becoming clear that even without the approval by the OGCC, Robles proceeded with the implementation of the contract. I hope he has a valid reason for doing so despite the findings by the OGCC that such contract is disadvantageous to the government, therefore violative of the Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” he said.

Warning ignored

“With this alone, Robles has put the PCSO in a bind and exposes it to lawsuits. Instead of heeding the OGCC call, he threw all caution to the wind and wantonly implemented the contract,” Barbers added.

“The purpose of the investigation is to find out the reasons for the findings of the OGCC and the reasons why the PCSO GM (general manager) disregarded such findings, to the great disadvantage of the government,” he said.

According to Barbers, e-lotto has become controversial following the Jan. 16 6/49 lotto draw where a lone online winning bettor got the P640 million jackpot.

He said in his resolution that the OGCC was mandated to safeguard the legal interest of all government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and part of its task was to review contracts.

“The PCSO, among several other GOCCs, has been notoriously known to engage in highly questionable transactions with its service providers …,” Barbers said.