Isabela 6th District Rep. Inno Dy V took the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to task for entering into agreements with Authorized Agent Corporations (AAC) to conduct PCSO small town lottery (STL) operations in the provinces––agreements that were tantamount to awarding franchises to private corporations to hold lotteries, in violation of Section 1 of R.A. No. 1169 as amended by BP Blg. 42, or the PCSO Charter, which states that only the PCSO is authorized to “hold and conduct charity sweepstakes, races, lotteries, and other similar activities.”
Quizzed by Dy at the House inquiry into the 2020 STL revised implementing rules and regulations (RIRR) held jointly by the House committees of Games and Amusement and Good Government and Public Accountability, PCSO General Manager Royina Garma admitted that AACs market the STL, remit and collect STL bets, issue their own receipts, and award prizes to winning bettors.
“This is the very definition of a franchise. Ito pong AAC ang nangangapital, silo po ang nagte-take ng bets, sila po ang nagma-market nito, sila ang nagbebenta ng tickets, sila ang namimigay ng pa-premyo… tapos nagre-remit lang sila sa inyo.”
The freshman solon asked Garma to confirm if “sila (AACs) po ang nagre-remit, sila ang nagco-collect ng bets, silo po ang nagma-market… at sila po ang nagi-issue ng sarili nilang resibo, at saka ng prizes po… tama po ba ito?”
Garma answered in the affirmative, and likewise confirmed to the House panel members that AACs were required to have 25 million pesos in capital and to shoulder all the liabilities in connection with STL operations run by the AACs in the provinces.
Entering into agreements with AACs to permit them do all these, according to Dy, was tantamount to giving the AACs franchises.
“This is the very definition of a franchise. Ito pong AAC ang nangangapital, silo po ang nagte-take ng bets, sila po ang nagma-market nito, sila ang nagbebenta ng tickets, sila ang namimigay ng pa-premyo… tapos nagre-remit lang sila sa inyo,” stressed the lawmaker.
“Hindi ba po prangkisa na po ito?”
“Kahit anong paikot-ikot, kahit anong pasikot-sikot pa, this is a clear circumvention of the law.”
Dy further pointed out that it was not the PCSO giving commissions to the AACs, but the other way around.
“There might not be the words ‘franchise’ on paper,” Dy said, referring to the STL RIRR, “but everything about it is a franchise.”
“If it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck, then it is a duck. Ganun lang ka-simple yun. Kahit anong paikot-ikot, kahit anong pasikot-sikot pa, this is a clear circumvention of the law.”
Dy pressed Garma to provide the legal bases for the PCSO’s actions, as he explained that even the STL RIRR states that the grant of authority to operate STL is a privilege and not a right, and in the case of STL operations in the provinces, it was clear that the PCSO was extending this privilege to AACs––a right it did not possess under its own charter.
Addressing Garma, Dy emphasized that “it is only Congress that has the power to give out franchises.”
“Wala po kayong right para magbigay ng prangkisa sa kahit sino mang agent or corporation under your charter.”