Lotto ‘winner’ tells tale of woe to legislators

MANILA, Philippines–A half-burned piece of thermal paper carefully pressed in between the pages of a thick Bible is the only proof Antonio Failon Mendoza has that he won P12,391,600 in picking the winning combination for the nationwide lotto draw on Oct. 2.

“Pera na, naplantsa pa (Sure money gone too soon)” was how Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo summed up the tale of Mendoza, a jobless man who went to seek the help of the House of Representatives in reversing his rags-to-riches-to-rags-again story.

Mendoza, of Calaca town, Batangas province, on Tuesday presented what remained of his ticket he bought in a lotto outlet in his hometown to members of the House committee on games and amusement after a well-meaning daughter ironed the ticket because it was crumpled.

“I just want to say that I am one of the millions of bettors of lotto who use their hard-earned money with hopes of winning. But now that I have won, I cannot claim my money, I hope you can help me,” Mendoza said.

The owner of the lotto outlet, Fermina Panganiban, accompanied him to Congress and testified that she sold only P5,000 worth of tickets for the Oct. 2 draw and that Mendoza was indeed one of those who bought from her outlet.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, committee chair, asked officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), the lotto operator, if there was still a way Mendoza could claim his supposed winnings.

“Probably if Mr. Mendoza can present secondary evidence that he picked the right numbers, the PCSO might reconsider,” Barzaga said.

The agency could check all the tickets bought from Panganiban’s outlet, he added.

PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the agency would have to wait for at least a year before acting on Mendoza’s claim because other individuals could come forward to claim the prize.

But even if no other claimant comes forward, Rojas said Mendoza’s ticket would still have to pass through the PCSO’s validating machine. Unless the ticket numbers were readable, Mendoza cannot get the prize money, he said.

PCSO media officer Joseph Muego confirmed that there was a lone winner for the Oct. 2 draw and that the winning ticket was bought in a lotto outlet in Calaca.

The jackpot prize was P12,391,600.00, and the winning combination was 40-09-36-31-21-41.

Rojas said it was the duty of the PCSO to protect the integrity of its guidelines for the benefit of millions of bettors, noting that its “no ticket, no payment” policy was inviolable unless the rules were changed by the PCSO board.

“As a lawyer, we can only depend on documentary evidence. In this case, the ticket is not readable and I don’t know if there is any forensic measure we can use to prove his case. Our legal team has also recommended that his ticket should be validated by our machine,” Rojas said.

The PCSO policy stands until it is revised by its board, he stressed.

Mendoza came to the House along with his close relatives, including his wife and daughter, hoping that the lawmakers would be able to make the PCSO soften its stand and reconsider awarding him the prize money.

He claimed he had been jobless for a month after his contract ended in Papua New Guinea.

But Rojas was adamant that an unaltered lotto ticket was the only proof that the PCSO recognized before releasing the prize money.

He noted that the back of the ticket clearly stated that “prizes will not be paid if the ticket is altered, defaced, torn, damaged or has failed any of the validation tests by the PCSO.”

The ticket has a separate warning for holders to keep it away from heat, hot objects, oil, water and solvents.

Rojas explained that if the PCSO would relax the guidelines in special cases, it could open up the agency to a horde of claimants with half-burned tickets as proofs.

Quimbo, a lawyer, argued that the fine print did not explicitly state that the ticket should not be ironed.–With a report from Jaymee T. Gamil

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