CA stops PCSO crackdown vs ‘perya’ games

The Court of Appeals has stopped the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) from declaring illegal the “peryahan ng bayan” operations of Globaltech Mobile Online Corp. for allegedly serving as fronts for the illegal numbers game “jueteng.”

In an order on Jan. 15, the Court of Appeals 8th Division denied the PCSO’s petition to overturn a May 2016 order of the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 161 in favor of Globaltech.

In March 2016, PCSO terminated its contract with Globaltech, accusing the peryahan operator of not remitting some P100 million in revenue.

Business as usual

Globaltech challenged it at the Pasig RTC, which issued a “status quo ante” order that allowed the firm to continue its daily peryahan draws.

In a ruling written by Associate Justice Ramon Cruz, the Court of Appeals’ 8th Division said Pasig RTC Judge Nicanor Manalo Jr. did not abuse his discretion when he ordered PCSO and Globaltech to resolve their dispute through arbitration.

The status quo ante order would “preserve threatened or continuous irremediable injury to Globaltech before its claims can be thoroughly studied and adjudicated in the arbitration proceedings,” said the Court of Appeals.

“The act of PCSO of not sending its representatives to the draw centers of Globaltech daily to conduct the peryahan games amounts to a violation of the rights of Globaltech,” the court said.

It added that PCSO had “no blanket authority to unilaterally terminate the contract without warning and in violation of the provisions.”