BAGUIO CITY – The Supreme Court (SC) recently upheld the right of three barangays in the country’s undisputed Summer Capital to conduct bingo games as fund-raising initiatives without needing permits from the State-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) or any national or local government office or agency.
Voting 11 justices in favor and 4 others against on GR No. 207118, Republic of the Philippines and the City of Baguio versus the Association of Barangay Councils–Baguio City chapter, the High Court underscored that barangays have local autonomy under the Constitution allowing them to run activities that benefit their communities and raise funds as long as these are lawful.
Further, the SC stated that pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9487 or the PAGCOR’s Charter states that games managed by local government units are not covered by the State gaming corporation’s rules.
Section 10 of RA 9487 had extended PAGCOR’s franchise for another 25 years, but states that its authority to regulate public and private gaming requires “the consent of the local government unit that has territorial jurisdiction over the area chosen as the site for any of its operations.”
The issue against the conduct of the Bingo sa Barangay, a fund raising initiated by the Association of Barangay Councils, cropped up way back in 2008 after it was allegedly used to cover up the illegal operation of ‘jueteng,’ a popular 2-number game branded as the poor man’s game.
Many of the city’s older residents have long opposed gambling, a position that became unofficial policy following Baguio’s recovery from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake.
For instance, one of the city’s 19 conditions for approving the commercialization of Camp John Hay in 1994 as embodied under Resolution No. 362, series of 1994, popularly known as the 19 conditionalities for the proposed development of the former American rest and recreation area, was the prohibition of casino operations there.
The Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group, a coalition of churches and religious assemblies, has led the city’s antigambling movement.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has taken action against barangay bingo operations.
At present, many barangays in the city have been passing various resolutions authorizing the conduct of Bingo sa Barangay fund raising activities as one of the means to raise funds that will support their respective priority projects outside of the limited funds contained in their annual budgets that are appropriated for their detailed priority initiatives.
Earlier, the Association of Barangay Councils decided to adopt a policy authorizing the conduct of bingo fundraising games for a limited period of time for various barangays to generate resources for the identified priority projects of the involved barangays for them to meet the increasing needs of their respective constituents. By Dexter A. See
