STA. BARBARA – Nineteen employees of Peryahan ng Bayan (PNB) of Globaltech Mobile Online Corporation (GMOC) were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation Dagupan District Office.

In an exclusive PUNCH interview, NBI Dagupan chief Rizaldy Jaymalin said pre-printed papers, locally known as papelitos, and more than PHP 40,000 cash were seized.

Jaymalin said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office filed the complaint vs GMOC for allegedly operating “beyond its parameters” particularly the Small Town Lottery (STL).

According to a Status Quo Ante Order issued by the Branch 161 of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, upheld by the Court of Appeals on January 15, 2019, the PNB was allowed to operate while GMOC and PCSO undergo arbitration proceedings.

However, per Deed of Authority (DOA)and Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) that GMOC executed with the PCSO, PNB will only operate three Peryahan games, namely, Throw Coins, Gulong ng Suertes, and Hulog Holen.

The PCSO claimed GMOC violated the DOA and IRR by allegedly operating STL, the franchise of which is granted exclusively to Speed Game Inc.

In addition, Jaymalin said DOA requires GMOC to use only a handheld gadget to sell tickets, and not papelitos, commonly used for STL.

“Hindi dapat sila nag o-operate ng STL, bawal ang papelitos. Kapag nagpapataya, dapat may point of sale device na magi-issue ng combination na tinayaan ng bettor”, Jaymalin said.

He said NBI already stopped PNB’s STL operations 15 times in previous months.

However, Efren Fajardo, GMOC operations manager, accused the NBI raiding team of violating the protocol in implementing the search warrant “Nag-search sila, walang barangay representative. Tinawag nila yung representative ng barangay after the search”, said Fajardo.

He also denied operating STL and claimed PNB only operates the three authorized games, three times daily and that use of papelitos was authorized bythe IRR for collection purposes before these are registered in the system.

Fajardo also protested the filing of criminal charges instead of mere citation for administrative violations of the IRR since the allegation is a violation of an agreement and not a contract.

Fajardo lambasted the PCSO for failing to send its representatives to the PNB as directed by the Court of Appeals. He said he suspects that it is PCSO’s ploy to make GMOC commit mistakes so the grounds for termination of GMOC’s PNB operations can be established. (Chub Pasion)

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