Appeals court allows Meridien Vista to operate

MANILA, Philippines–The Court of Appeals allowed gaming station operator Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation (MVGC) to operate its betting and gaming stations within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port.

Voting 3-2, the appeals court division of five throughn Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan said that the authority of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) does not extend inside the Cagayan Special Economic Freeport Zone.

However, the appeals court, citing Judicial courtesy did not rule on the legality of the Meridien’s off fronton betting stations because it is pending with another division of the Court of Appeals.

In its Aug. 18, 2011 ruling, the appeals court dismissed the findings of the Aparri, Cagayan Regional Trial Court(RTC), which had issued a temporary restraining order and an injunction order against the GAB in favor of Meridien.
The appeals court held that GAB’s closure order was by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 871, enacted by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1975, which established the GAB as the regulator of professional basketball games and other professional games.

The appellate court said that the Aparri RTC committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing the TRO and the injunction, as the place it covers is beyond its territorial jurisdiction.

Meridien has a franchise given by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) to conduct jai alai games inside the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port (CSEZFP).

Meridien said GAB had no authority over its jai-alai operations which the appeals court affirmed.

“The authority of the Games and Amusement Board over the jai-alai games of the respondent does not extend inside the Cagayan Special Economic zone and Free Port,” the appeals court said.

“The regulatory and supervisory power of the GAB over jai-alai and other  professional sports does not extend to economic zones,” it added.

MVGC is the sole entity authorized to operate jai-alai within the freeport zone.

Last year, the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior and Local Government  issued a joint memorandum ordering a crackdown on jai-alai and off-fronton betting stations.
Arrests were ordered against personnel manning the operations but the appeals court stopped the memorandum order’s implementation.

Aside from Gaerlan, concurring with the decision are  Associate Justices Danton Bueser and Socorro Inting. Associate Justices Rosmari Carandang and Rebecca De Guia-Salvador both dissented.