NBI tags STL firm in Quezon ‘jueteng’ front

Pirouette Corp., a Small Town Lottery (STL) franchise holder, is not only defrauding the government of STL sales but is also  operating what appears to be “jueteng,” a numbers racket that STL seeks to eradicate, according to a report by the National Bureau of Investigation.

Pirouette, owned by Jose Gonzales, was granted a franchise to operate STL in Quezon province and Lucena City on Feb. 28, 2006,  according to records of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

“(The) glaring discovery . . . revealed the duplicity of tickets, raising suspicion that the other [ticket] is not recorded or included in the supposed revenue for particular draws,” said a report by NBI investigators.

“This is a clear indication of what we call ‘bookies.’ Further, no tickets are retained by the operator. Hence, there is no way to evaluate or audit or countercheck the revenues derived therefrom. All tickets are returned to the agents, which makes it more like a jueteng type of operation,” said the NBI report dated July 30.

The report was signed by three special investigators, including  Ferdinand Manuel, and submitted to NBI Director Virgilio Mendez through Edward Villarta, then deputy director for regional operations service and now deputy director for investigation.

The report said Pirouette had violated STL rules and regulations, such as the absence of point of sale terminals (POSTs), use of “papelitos” (jueteng bet sheets), employment of minors and maintenance of unregistered “rebisahan” (where bets are brought).

The NBI report uncovered an unusual practice of Piroutte. The team was surprised to learn from the “kabo” (leader of the collectors) and “kubrador” (bet collectors) that a limit was placed on bets.

“In excess thereto, the operator shall not pay for the excess should it be drawn as the winning combination. The scheme is beyond comprehension,” it said.

The NBI report also found that two satellite offices of Piroutte in Sariaya town were not using POSTs, allowing the company to underreport sales.

“There were no available POSTs in two Sariaya outlets. POST should be utilized in recording bets, printing or creating the corresponding ticket or receipt, and transmitting the record of the bet to the central data center,” it said.

This meant that sales agents were manually recording bets and that accounting was done through a portable register, the NBI said.

“With this type of setup, it is highly improbable for the PCSO to determine the actual amount of sales per draw, per day, per week and per month being generated from the STL games,” the  report said.

“This could hinder proper recording and auditing, which may be used to defraud the government and avoid payment of taxes, fees and remittances should there be misdeclaration of actual collections.”

The NBI report also found that Pirouette was using papelitos to take bets, a practice not allowed in STL implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

In addition, the company was using  minors as errand boys for its operation, a violation of STL regulations and labor laws.