"This is a big gamble."
What’s going on with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Lottery System Project? Previously called the National Online Lottery System contract, the PCSO has been working since 2017 to get this project under way, yet the contract has been constantly bogged down by issues.
Just last month, the PCSO board passed a resolution that allowed a disqualified bidder to proceed with its bid for the P6.5 billion lotto project. This decision, my gulay, was so questionable that members of the Special Bids and Awards Committee of the PCSO tendered their irrevocable resignations, saying they could not do anything that runs counter to procurement law, rules and regulations.
Some research into the bidding timeline revealed that the documents submitted to the Joint Venture of Philippine United Technic Corporation, Digi-Specs I.T. Corporation and Genlot Game Technology Co. Ltd., collectively known as the JV Genlot were patently insufficient from the start.
The bidding envelopes were opened on April 21, 2021 and the Abstract of Bids which is publicly available on the PCSO website showed categorically that JV Genlot was able to submit one requirement in the “As Read” publication. Yes, just one. They submitted the PhilGEPS Registration Certificate for Platinum Membership.
Then, Santa Banana, on the very same page of the Abstract, JV Genlot’s submission was marked “insufficient/failed” because the JV Genlot cited three ongoing contracts yet could only supply the Notice of Award of one, resulting in a disparity between declared figures and verifiable figures. Further reading of the bid documents was halted. In the abstract of Bids (as calculated), JV Genlot was marked as disqualified, therefore even though the company had passed the PhilGEPS requirement, it was mostly due to their disqualification.
Santa Banana, that should have been the end of it. However, following a Motion for Reconsideration filed by Genlot after the Abstract of Bids (as Read) was published online, the SBAC re-opened the bid and examined the documents of JV Genlot, which had been sealed to prevent tampering upon closer inspection, the SBAC found the Mayor’s Permit of Philippine United Technic Corporation (PUTC), one of the companies that make up JV Genlot, had expired four months before the deadline of submission of bids, and not even a receipt for renewal was included, Santa Banana! Effectively therefore, the local partner of JV Genlot was operating without a license for the last four months, in complete and utter violation of bidding requirements.
Also, instead of including the Single Largest Completed Contract (SLCC), the SBAC found that JV Genlot had included numerous pages of bank statements which were in Chinese. They also did not submit any English translations, despite what RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, requires of all foreign bidders submitting documents in other languages. My gulay, not only was this rightfully deemed insufficient. It comes off, at best, as extreme laziness on the part of the bidder.
At worst, it may be seen as snide smugness that the contract was theirs and the bid submission was a mere formality. RA 9184 is a law, and everyone – especially foreign firms hoping to generate profit in the Philippines, must abide by our laws.
In early June, the SBAC released a Notice of Resolution upholding their initial decision to disqualify JV Genlot from the bid, following the reopening of envelopes. A week later, JV Genlot submitted a verified protest to overturn the SBAC decision. I am sure that past bidders (and I personally know of some) can be attracted to the strictness and inflexibility of PCSO SBAC when it comes to Motions for Reconsideration, so even this allowance for repeated appeals was a bit odd.
My gulay, the appeals ping-pong game eventually prompted PCSO General Manager Royina Garma to meet with the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), the definitive authority on public bidding policies. Upon the presentation of the facts and timelines, the GPPB emphatically upheld the findings of the SBAC decision from the start and agreed to the disqualification of JV Genlot.
But, would you believe, exactly one day after this meeting, the PCSO board awarded the protest of JV Genlot, reversing the SBAC’s decision? Consequently, five members of the SBAC tendered their resignation in a memo the day after that, stating their duty to act in accordance with the law.
JV Genlot’s railroading of the public procurement process appears to have cheated the government and the Filipino people out of a transparent, fair impartial bid. The resolution by the PCSO Board, glaringly opposite to the guidance of GPPB, raised enough red flags in my opinion To warrant thorough investigation by other regulators in the government into the matter. With Senator Manny Pacquiao’s corruption making headlines, it is too bad he did not look in the PCSO before he left for this fight in Las Vegas next month.
Another thing to look at is the very curious corporate identity of Genlot Game Technologies Ltd., also known as Shenzen General Lottery Technology Co, AKA Suical Keji, AKA Shenzen Genlot, AKA Telling Telecommunications, AKA Tianyin Communications. Despite so many aliases, I have been told that it is a company with next to no public information.
My gulay, according to numerous websites, the company was established in 2000 in Shenzen and yet no press releases or financial statements are available on their official websites or Linkedin profiles. One report, Santa Banana, revealed that one of the many iterations of this company supplied mobile phones to China Mobile and China Telecom, but not much else.
Another disclosure showed that Genlot provided 10,000 lotto terminals to controversial Chinese online gambiling company 500.com, also known as Wubao; the same company identified and accused by Tokyo prosecutors in 2019 of bribing Japanese lawmakers in the hope of building a casino in Japan. The US Ambassador to Jamaica also flagged Genlot last year for potential data privacy violations while calling for proper vetting and the observance of due process.
Santa Banana, if this is the sort of company the PCSO entrusts with running the national lottery, then this is a very big gamble indeed.
No less than a Senate probe is in order.
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I greet Manny V. Pangilinan a “Happy Birthday” on his 75th birthday. I am his friend and admirer. God bless, Manny.