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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Tuesday, October 24, 2017
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THE SANGGUNIANG Bayan (SB) of an Iloilo municipality has passed on second reading an ordinance regulating the operation of Small Town Lottery (STL) thereat. But I would rather not name the place yet – pending the ordinance’s final approval by the mayor – to save the councilors from likely embarrassment.
As a rule, any municipal ordinance passes through the scrutiny of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), which could remand it back to the SB for being illegal.
While there are acceptable provisions that appear well-motivated – say, to protect the authorized STL franchisee from illegal bookies – some could be questionable. For instance, the proposed ordinance prohibits the STL franchisee – which is the Eagle Crest Gaming Corporation in Iloilo Province – from setting up betting tables in areas not authorized by the mayor; requires the franchisee to secure mayor’s permit, to furnish the municipal police station with names of ID-bearing employees and bet collectors, and to secure barangay and police clearances for them.
Question: Is the municipal council empowered to regulate a game under the direct jurisdiction of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)?
Answer: No, since it would contravene a national law giving exclusive authority to PCSO the power to regulate its games under Republic Act 1169. In a legal opinion released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) long ago on July 26, 1995, “the PCSO and its lottery ticket sellers, including lotto sales agents, are not required to secure business permits/licenses from the province, city or municipality where they may operate and are also exempt from the authority of the local government units (LGUs) to impose taxes, fees or charges on the PCSO lotto ticket outlets.”
And so on Feb. 13, 1998, to cite a judicial precedent, the Supreme Court (SC) promulgated a decision on a petition filed by lotto sales agents in Cebu City against then Mayor Alvin Garcia and the city council for closing lotto outlets due to petitioners’ failure to secure business permits and pay license fees to the local government. The SC responded, declaring null and void the act of respondent city officials.
Due to more or less similar cases clogging court dockets, the PCSO’s legal department issued a certification dated Jan. 28, 2011, clarifying that lotto, keno, STL and other PCSO-authorized games are exempted from securing mayor’s permit and from paying whatever fees to any local government unit (LGU).
The DILG concurred, stressing that it is not logical to grant LGUs the power to regulate or prohibit a national franchise or license for gambling. Otherwise, the national government would be subjected to control by a mere local government.
Thus, Section 1 of PD 771 says, “Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the authority of chartered cities and other local governments to issue license, permit or any form of franchise to operate, maintain and establish all forms of gambling is hereby revoked.”
Section 2 specifies that permit and franchise shall only be issued “by the national government upon proper application and verification of the qualifications of the applicant.”
For a brief backgrounder, the STL kicked off in 2006 during the Gloria Arroyo presidency on the pretext of stemming underground lottery, but was conveniently used by gambling syndicates as a smokescreen for similar illegal numbers game, such as jueteng and “daily double.”
Notwithstanding, the PCSO has since then shored up STL into a giant money maker for the PCSO, now with 56 authorized agent corporations (franchisees) nationwide. Its target income for the year 2017, P30 billion, is based on the fact that each franchisee is obliged to remit from two to three million pesos a day to PCSO, depending on the scope of its contracted operation.
No, Virginia, there is no need for any LGU to “help” PCSO regulate STL. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
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