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The Philippine Supreme Court has ruled that the lowest tier of government, the local community “barangay”, is permitted to run bingo fundraisers without the permission of the gambling regulator PAGCOR or any other government body.
The 11-4 decision in Republic of the Philippines v The Association of Barangay Councils by the apex court's full bench confirms decisions by the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals, and opens the door for considerable expansion of local bingo operations.
A Supreme Court statement on Thursday (April 24) said the Local Government Code of 1991 grants barangays local autonomy, including the right to hold bingo events for fundraising, “provided they comply with national standards on morality, health and safety”.
“Barangays must be empowered,” the court decision said.
“To allow barangays to conduct ‘Bingo sa Barangay’ [Barangay Bingo] as a fund-raising activity for barangay projects without the need to secure permits from PAGCOR or any national or local office or agency is to breathe life to the constitutional mandate of the State to ensure the local autonomy of barangays,” it said.
Dissenting justices supported the national government’s case, arguing that the amended PAGCOR Charter overrides local government powers.
But the majority said the charter “explicitly excludes games of chance, cards and numbers authorised and regulated by local government units”, the statement said.
The case was triggered by police raids and detentions of local officials at bingo events in three barangays in the city of Baguio, north of Manila, after local leaders passed resolutions for the operation of bingo fundraisers.
The former president of the Association of Barangay Councils in Baguio, who led the litigation, is Rufino M. Panagan.
Panagan, a one-time Baguio City councillor and Department of Agriculture official, was in 2022 of committing estafa (fraud by misrepresentation) through receiving nearly 2m pesos ($36,000) from a married couple seeking his assistance to gain a bingo franchise in the city in 2003.
Rocky Aliping, the current president of the Association of Barangay Councils, told the state-owned Philippine News Agency on Wednesday that the decision greatly assists barangays that implement top-level policies but are often starved of funds.
“All devolved projects and programs are done in the barangays and we have no recourse but to implement them; that is why barangays raise funds to help defray the expenses,” he said.
“We also spend on fiestas, projects, social services, infrastructures, indigent residents, women, and senior citizens. Everything is in the hands of the barangays, and that is why we conduct fundraising activities.”
Aliping added that barangay leaders should make sure not to abuse their authority by organising illegal gambling activities.
PAGCOR’s authority has undergone significant turbulence in recent years, with its regulation of foreign-facing online gambling ended on January 1 by a presidential ban.
The regulator also has authority over the rapidly expanding domestic online gambling market, as well as over land-based casinos, retail electronic games and bingo parlours.
This week’s Supreme Court decision is yet to be uploaded to the court’s website.
