Court tells lotto paper firm to deliver to PCSO

A Regional Trial Court has ordered the delivery of thermal paper to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) by an Australian firm, saying a further delay in the delivery could disrupt the PCSO’s lottery operations nationwide.

In a one-page order on Dec. 2, Judge Winlove Dumayas, of the Makati RTC Branch 59, said there is a need for TMA Australia, the supplier of the thermal paper, to resume its deliveries to the PCSO warehouse in Camp Aguinaldo.

The warehouse is the storage area for thermal paper for lotto operations nationwide.

“Without going deeper into the merits of the case … and to avoid disruption of lottery operations of PCSO, which is vested with public interest, this court orders (TMA Australia) to immediately deliver to PCSO the following papers,” said the court order, quoted in a statement by TMA.

The court also ordered PCSO to “accept and pay the above goods.”

The order stemmed from the case filed by TMA Australia, a leading manufacturer of thermal paper and other paper products in Asia and Australia, questioning the cancellation by the PCSO board of its 25-year contract to supply thermal paper for PCSO’s lotto operations. The contract took effect in 2009.

The court, on May 13, 2011, issued an injunction to stop the contract cancellation but the PCSO refused to comply with the order and insisted on canceling the contract.

Romeo Dela Cruz, TMA counsel and former solicitor general, said TMA wrote letters to PCSO requesting the issuance of purchase orders, but these went unheeded.