Lawmaker questions absence of TIN of lottery winners

 (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Raffy Tulfo questioned on Monday instances where Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) lottery players who won several times times last year did not present a Tax Identification Numbers (TIN).

Speaking at the Senate committee on games and amusement’s hearing on the integrity and trustworthiness of PCSO lottery,  Tulfo said records provided by the agency showed discrepancies in its winners.

“Ang daming multiple winners na walang TIN at base po sa record ng PCSO, libu-libo po ang mga nanalong bettors pero hindi po tumutugma — daan lang po ang may TIN,” said Tulfo.

(Many multiple winners have no TIN, and based on PCSO’s records, thousands of bettors have won, but this does not match because only hundreds have TIN.)

He then proceeded to present these alleged winners who had multiple winnings, only identifying them as Persons A, B, C, D, and E.

“Person A” bagged a total of P1,026,602 after winning four times in July – twice  in August, twice in September, twice in November, and twice in December.

Another winner only identified as Person B won P8, 325,000 after winning eight times in July, nine times in August, two times in September, four times in October, nine times in November, and four times in December.

‘Only claimants, not winners’

PCSO General Manager Mel Robles, however, explained that most of these “multiple winners” are only claimants and not the actual winners.

“Your honor, ‘yan po yung sinasabi kong lotto agent na pinakikiusapan ng kanyang bettors and definitely when he goes to the branch kasi P10,000 and below kaya pa po ‘yan ng outlet — P10,000 and above up to P300,000 pesos he has to go to the branch. E ang branch po normally  ay nasa Kapitolyo ‘yan eh, so kung nasa malayo kang lugar ang logical and practical ways [is] to talk doon sa suki mo na na — pakisabay naman ito,” explained Robles.

(Your honor, that’s what I’m saying—the lotto agent is sometimes asked by his bettors to claim the prize. The branch is normally in the provincial Capitol. So if you are in a faraway place, the logical and practical way [is] to talk to your agent there and ask them to claim it on your behalf.)

In a press conference following the hearing, Tulfo maintained that only the winners should claim their prizes and not these so-called claimants.

Zero TIN: How can this happen?

As for the standard “zero” TIN of the winners, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) explained that there are really instances such as this that happens.

“May instances na i-checheck namin kung meron pong TIN. Kasi po napansin po namin minsan wala nga pong sina-submit si PCSO and then noong dinouble check po namin ay meron naman po palang TIN yung individual,” Atty. Ralbert John Neil Tibayan of the BIR pointed out.

(We sometimes check if these winners really have TIN because we’ve noticed that sometimes, although PCSO submitted no TIN, we later find out that the individual has a  TIN upon double-checking.)

He  added that tax payments are still collected for those who have “zero” TIN.

“Counted pa rin po as collection kasi may nanalo pa rin po and may tax pa rin po na dapat bayaran,” he added.

(That’s still counted as a collection because there’s still someone who won and there’s still tax that needs to be paid.)