The bid of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to regain P707.2 million worth of its assets seized by an Australian supplier got a major boost with a recent Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court’s Special Third Division, in a notice last March, had denied with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by Australian thermal paper supplier TMA Group regarding its case against PCSO which cancelled an alleged highly anomalous supposed joint venture agreement worth P4.4 billion for the local manufacture of thermal paper 11 years ago.

A March 27, 2014 Court of Appeals decision initially upheld lower court rulings of the Makati City Regional Trial Court that prevented the PCSO from cancelling the P4.4 billion "contractual joint venture agreement" (CJVA) for thermal paper supply which aimed to establish the first thermal coating plant in the Philippines.

The March, 2014, verdict was overturned by the SC Third Division in its August 28, 2019 ruling and eventually, in the notice issued by Division Clerk Misael Domingo Battung III of the SC Special Third Division last March 4, it was declared to have denied "with finality" TMA Group’s motion for reconsideration.

"No further pleadings, motions, letters, or other communications shall be entertained in this case. Let an entry of judgement be issued immediately," the notice said.

The multinational paper supplier had sought a reconsideration of the Aug. 28, 2019 ruling which declared as "void and of no force and effect" the orders of the Makati RTC on May 13, 2011, Sept. 4, 2013, and Nov. 6, 2013 preventing the PCSO from cancelling the CJVA it signed with the TMA Group of Companies on Dec. 4, 2009.

But through a resolution issued on April 15, 2011, the PCSO cancelled the agreement after the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel found the deal to be essentially a supply contract.

It was seen as a ploy to circumvent Republic Act 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, particularly on bidding for government procurement supplies, and to evade the audit by the Commission on Audit.

The High Tribunal, in the Aug. 28, 2019 ruling, also reversed the CA decision issued on Feb. 4, 2016, and resolution dated June 27, 2016, where it sustained the orders issued by the Regional Trial Court of Makati City in June and August, 2014, which granted TMA’s motion for the garnishment of PCSO’s properties, assets, and money to pay for the price of lotto paper deliveries worth P82 million.

The high court ruled that the injunctive writs appeared to have been issued by the trial court despite the absence of facts that would justify its issuance.

The SC also reversed and set aside the CA decision issued on February 4, 2016 and resolution dated June 27, 2016 affirming the orders issued by the Makati RTC in June and August, 2014, which granted TMA’s motion for the garnishment of PCSO’s properties, assets, and money to pay for the price of lotto paper deliveries in the amount of P82 million.

The Court explained that the injunctive writs appeared to have been issued by the trial court despite the absence of facts that would justify its issuance.