Senate panel subpoenas PCSO chair, general manager over repeated absences

A Senate games and amusement subcommittee issued Wednesday a subpoena against Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Junnie Cua and general manager Mel Robles over their “repeated” absences in the hearings seeking to investigate the integrity of the government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).

“Considering the absence of the PCSO officials, the committee secretary is hereby directed to issue a notice to PCSO for them to submit a position paper regarding Senate Resolution No. 253 and 466 within 10 days from the receipt of notice,” Senator Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the subcommittee, said.

“Likewise, the committee secretary is directed to issue a subpoena to the PCSO officials to require their attendance in the next public hearing. In addition, the PCSO officials must show cause why they should not be cited in contempt by the subcommittee for repeated absence and continuous refusal to attend in this subcommittee’s public hearing,” he ordered.

At the start of the hearing, Tulfo said this was the second time that the PCSO ranking officials asked for the “last-minute” rescheduling of the hearing.

“Kayo sa PCSO, sa tingin n’yo (Those of you in PCSO think) you guys are very special. I don’t know kung ano ang pinagmamalaki ninyo lalo na ‘yung boss ninyo, si (I don't know what you are bragging about especially your boss,) Robles,” Tulfo said.

“We sent a letter to you several weeks ago para sa hearing na ‘to and you sent us a letter saying ‘di kayo makaka-attend lahat and nagpa-reschedule ang PCSO. Nu’ng magpa-resched kayo, tinanggap namin ‘yung rescheduling ninyo and then only for us to receive a letter stating na hindi na naman kayo makakadalo. Ang yayabang ninyo sa PCSO. Ano bang pinagmamalaki ninyo?” a visibly agitated Tulfo said.

(We sent a letter to you several weeks ago for this hearing and you sent us a letter saying you cannot attend and asked us to reschedule it. We accepted your request and then only for us to receive a letter stating that you will not be able to attend again. You are so arrogant.)

Tulfo said he perceives the non-attendance of the PCSO officials as a “boycott.”

“Parang boycott. Ano bang pinagmamalaki ng PCSO?  Anong meron sa inyo? Anak kayo ng Diyos diyan sa PCSO (It seems like a boycott. What are you so proud of? Are you children of God)?” he said, adding that other government agencies attend the hearings whenever they are being called by the Senate.

Lawyer Maria Katrina Nicole Contacto, Executive Assistant VI of PCSO Office of General Manager, apologized for the absence of Robles and their assistant general managers.

“To be frank, your honor, the only reason why we’re requesting for an extension is because the launch of our [Philippine Lottery System] is due on October 1,” she explained.

But Tulfo cut her explanation short and told Contacto that they should have managed their schedule when they asked the panel to postpone the hearing.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, author of one of the resolutions that was supposed to be discussed, also asked why the PCSO officials were not present in the hearing.

“Nagtataka ngayon ako when it comes to Resolution 253, boycott? Bakit? I mean… technical nga ang sagot rito (I am wondering why they are boycotting Resolution 253? Why? The answers here are technical) but your general manager, assistant general manager [are] nowhere to be found,” Pimentel said.

“I don’t know what’s happening, Mr. Chairman. Siguro nagbigay ng excuse letter 'ata…Ang nangyayari dito I was about to write our chairman. Kami pa ngayon ang ipagsasabong ninyo. Sila naman ang 'di sumisipot,” he said.

The minority leader also questioned the part of the PCSO officials’ excuse letter where they supposedly stated that “they are going to allow online access to lotto because it’s part of the digitalization instruction of the President.”

“'Di ba kayo nag-iisip sa PCSO? Is that the meaning of the digitalization program of the government? That is to enhance government processes, how the people deal with the government, hindi ‘yung to promote gambling using digital means,” Pimentel said.

“Na-shock ako actually sa letter ni GM kaya, Mr. Chairman, pasiputin natin dito si GM kasi if this is how they think, naku, delikado tayo… That’s the wrong invocation of the instruction to digitalize government. Imagine mo…what kind of implementation of the instruction of the President is that?” he added.

Pimentel then made the motion to issue subpoenas against the PCSO officials.

The minority leader clarified that the motion was due to their repeated absence and it is “nothing personal.”

“There’s nothing personal here. Tapusin na natin ito kasi ang daming nakasubaybay po rito. They really need to explain and PCSO should not worry because if you were able to successfully explain it, hindi ba lalakas ngayon ang kredibilidad ng mga laro ninyo, ng organisasyon ninyo? That’s the point,” he said.

At the same time, Pimentel suggested to the panel to go over the PCSO’s corporate operating budget as he noted that the GOCC does not appear before Congress to explain their spending plan.

Likewise, Pimentel mentioned that PCSO’s marketing budget has doubled.—AOL, GMA Integrated News