Calling a one-year contract extension for a lotto online system provider of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) a “sweetheart deal” or “anomalous” without getting the side of the concerned agency is plain disrespect.
There are some members of the press who are very unprofessional, showing their true colors and intentions that destroy the image of other people who are working hard and practicing good reporting to inform the public.
What’s worse is challenging one PCSO official to destroy other officials for his benefit, so he can destroy or tarnish the reputation of the other person. Dirty journalism!
It’s sad that these people who are supposed to help make the public understand the need of the contract extension are the ones who are ignoring the issue, saying they will come to pass.
These people are either ignorant, plotting to destroy the other person, or initiating scandals by leaking sensitive information.
Based on information from the office of PCSO Chairman Anselmo Simeon Pinili and General Manager Alexander Balutan, the contract of Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC) was extended to give time to the agency to open the public bidding, which was hindered by the P10.9- billion Nationwide Online Lottery System (NOLS) project.
The contract was approved by the board of directors, based on Board Resolution 0229, Series of 2018. So I don’t really know where this columnist got the guts to entice one member of the Board to question the Board’s decision when he was one of the signatories of the resolution. Isn’t this ignorance? This is a one-sided attack by a PR-man-turned-columnist.
Apart from that, the Board will not approve a resolution if it doesn’t have enough basis such as an authorization from the Government Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations, Government Procurement Policy Board and Office of the Government Corporate Counsel. If the PCSO will stop the POSC operations, the agency will lose P89 million every day or P2.7 billion a month in revenues. It will also stop the operations of 8,614 national Lotto outlets and many people will lose their jobs.
There will be no more revenues generated to pay for free hospitalization bills, dialysis and chemotherapy treatments, implants and transplants, and other needs of poor patients.
Good thing is, the PCSO was able to lower POSC’s Lease Agreement from 7.7 percent to only 6 percent.
For the information of everyone, NOLS would have been operational now if the Makati City Regional Trial Court didn’t issue a temporary restraining order and writ of injunction favorable to Philippine Gaming and Management Corp. (PGMC), another lotto online system
provider of the PCSO.
The arbitration case reached the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration (ICC-ICA) to resolve the limited issue of “exclusivity” and all related matters.
Subsequently, a Final Award dated February 20, 2018, was issued in ICC-ICA 20105 CYK/PTA finding that PGMC has no exclusive right to supply online lottery terminals and equipment in Luzon, which Arbitral Award was confirmed by the Regional Trial Court in Makati City, Branch 143.
Well, like one PCSO official said, the P10.9-billion NOLS bidding cannot be done in haste as the agency has to go back to zero due to the legal case. The bidding and preparation will take another six to 12 months to fully set up the NOLS.
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