A PASIG City court has denied an injunction order against the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office filed by the Global Mobile Online Corp. (Global Tech) in connection with its controversial operation of the “Peryahan ng Bayan,” a court document showed.
The PCSO, in a statement, said the order was penned on Oct. 13, 2017 by Nicanor A. Manalo Jr., Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 161.
“All told, the Motion for Issuance of Writ of Injunction is denied for lack of merit and the parties are directed upon receipt of order to arbitrate pursuant to the Special Rules of Court on Alternative Dispute Resolution,” Manalo stated.
“Going into the merits of the instant case, it appears that the court has already issued an order partially granting PCSO’s Motion for Reconsideration and directing the parties to submit the issue for arbitration only after Global Tech’s posting of a surety bond. With the said directive and posting of the bond, the parties could now proceed to arbitration,” Manalo added.
Asked to comment, PCSO general manager and chairman Alexander Balutan and Jose Jorge Corpuz, respectively, confirmed the court order but did not issue any more details in deference to the next legal moves by both sides.
The charity officials, however, welcomed the court order.
They also confirmed that the agency still has a pending petition before the Court of Appeals.
The PCSO filed a petition for certiorari with an application for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction before the CA last July precisely to contest the need for arbitration when Globaltech had already profited at the expense of the people of the Philippines.
Globaltech started its operations all over the country in 2014 on the strength of a deed of authority (DOA) from the PCSO that was meant to be a “test run” of an envisioned cooperation that should have helped the PCSO increase its revenue.
However, Globaltech failed to comply with the terms of the DOA and the PCSO eventually terminated the DOA in March 2016.
Globaltech filed a civil case to stop PCSO from proceeding with the termination of the DOA and force the agency to an arbitration.
But the DOA had been terminated and the PCSO insisted against arbitration.
Aside from being a violation of anti-illegal gambling laws, the operation of the peryahan is also obstructing the PCSO’s expansion of its Small Town Lottery (STL) operations which has already weaned people from the countryside from illegal gambling activities.
Balutan warned the betting public that the real victims will be ordinary people who have been and will be arrested because they are working as bet collectors and lottery personnel of an illegal activity.