Five members of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Special Bids and Awards Committee (PCSO-SBAC) recently submitted their irrevocable resignation (effective immediately) to the Members of the PCSO Board, due to what they called a refusal to do “anything that runs counter to procurement law, rules, and regulations.”

“This irrevocable resignation is to ensure and maintain the continuity, transparency, and integrity of the procurement activities for the 2021 PCSO Lottery Project (SBAC Contract No. 2021-01) and in addition, to uphold the cold neutrality of an impartial Bids and Awards Committee by ensuring and preserving the appearance of fairness, objectivity and independence in the conduct of bid activities,” noted erstwhile SBAC members Josefina Sarsonas-Aguas, Atty. Raymond Samarita, Engr. Ariel de Ocampo, Engr. Omar Bagul, and Atty. Leah Christine Jimenez, in a letter dated June 25, 2021.

The resignation stemmed directly from the PCSO’s decision to grant the second protest filed by the Joint Venture of Philippine United Technic Corporation, Digi-Specs I.T. Corporation, and Genlot Game Technology Co. Ltd. (collectively known as JV Genlot), thus reversing the company’s earlier disqualification to participate in the bid for the P6.5 billion nationwide lotto system lease contract.

During the bid opening held last April 21, 2021, JV Genlot was disqualified from further bidding procedures, owing to Philippine United Technic Corporation’s expired mayor’s permit, and their failure to include English translations of supporting eligibility documents in the Single Largest Completed Contract (SLCC) requirement. Genlot is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telling Telecommunication Holding Co., Ltd., which supplies mobile phones to China Mobile and China Unicom.

JV Genlot filed a Request for Reconsideration before the PCSO SBAC, which was denied last June 9, 2021. In a meeting held last June 23, 2021, officials from the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) effectively upheld this denial by reminding the PCSO that the submission of an expired mayor’s permit is “not complete and sufficient on its face, and may not be cured at any stage of the bidding process and must perforce be deemed absent.” Moreover, the GPPB noted that “all documents written in a foreign language without an English translation are not sufficient or compliant with the requirements of RA 9184, and that this law cannot be supplanted, in any manner or extent, by the PCSO Manual of Corporate Governance.”

Notwithstanding this guidance, the PCSO Office of the Board Secretary and the Board of Directors issued a Notice of Resolution reversing the June 9 ruling, one day after the meeting with GPPB.

At present, Pacific Online Systems Corporation (POSC) operates the Visayas and Mindanao lotto system, while Philippine Gaming Management Corporation (PGMC) and its affiliate, International Lottery & Totalizator Systems, Inc. (ILTS) runs the Luzon area. For SBAC Contract No. 2021-01, POSC and, PGMC and ILTS have formed a group to make a single bid in order to retain their lotto operations.