SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Top officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) including General Manager Mel Robles, as well as executives of private firm Pacific Online Systems Corp (POSC), are facing criminal complaints for plunder and graft before the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged fraudulent activities in relation to the agency’s e-lotto operations.
The complainant – a self-described corruption watchdog named Filipinos for Peace, Justice, and Progress Movement (FPJPM) – flagged the supposed grant of a 14-percent commission from e-lotto revenues to POSC, even though the private firm initially offered its web-based services to the state lottery body “for zero commission or at no cost to PCSO.”
Who are the respondents?
The respondents are:
- PCSO General Manager Robles
- PCSO Board of Directors Chairperson Felix Reyes
- PCSO Board Member Jennifer Liongson-Guevara
- PCSO Board Member Janet de Leon Mercado
- POSC chairperson Willy Ocier
- POSC president and chief executive officer Jackson Ongsip
- POSC board director Raul de Mesa
- POSC board director Tarcisio Medalla
- POSC board director Henry Ocier
- POSC board director Armin Antonio Raquel Santos
FPJPM is represented by its vice president Richard Rillo in the complaint.
What are the specifics of the allegation?
FPJPM asserted that when PCSO paid POSC a 14-percent commission on a weekly basis, the state lottery officials “dishonored their oaths as public servants to protect government interest.”
It also accused POSC of agreeing to be a “conduit for graft and corruption, adding that a 2023 opinion from the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) made clear that the private firm “should not receive any commission” from the sale and marketing of the online game tickets during the experimental run.
FPJPM said the jackpot price of all five PCSO pottery games ballooned to P1.7 billion during the trial run of the e-lotto.
The complainant theorized that a group can bet on all 13,983,816 possible combinations of the 6/49 Super Lotto by spending only a combined P280 million (P20 per combination) and win at least P500 million. – Rappler.com
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