THE Court of Appeals has denied the petition lodged by a coco lumber agent seeking to collect P120.16 million from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office which he allegedly won in a lotto draw.

In a 21-page decision, the CA upheld the April 27, 2007 decision by the Quezon City regional trial court which found Carlito Mirando Jr.’s claim lacking in “legal and factual basis.”

In his complaint, Mirando claimed that he is the lawful owner of the winning ticket for March 9,1996 draw and that he purchased his ticket at ACT Theater, Cubao, Quezon City.

But the PCSO stressed the winning numbers, 15-22-23-24-34-36, was purchased in a lotto betting outlet in Zenco Footsteps, Libertad, Pasay City.

Four days after the winning number was announced,  Mirando went to the lotto outlet at ACT Theater and handed his ticket to the cashier who fed it to the machine.

The words “Congratulations, you win the jackpot prize” appeared on the screen of the lotto machine.  Since it was Sunday and no government offices are open, he decided to go home to Aurora province.

The next day, Mirando went to PCSO’s office to claim his prize but was shocked to learn from then PCSO chairman Manuel Morato that he can no longer claim his prize as it was already claimed by someone else.

Mirando filed a suit before the QC RTC seeking the release of the winning prize in his favor.

To bolster his claim, Mirando presented Edwin Alibuyog, the sales manager for the Philippine Gaming Management Corporation (PGMC) in 1996, as his witness.

Alibuyog attested that the March 9,1996 winner was purchased from ACT Theater based on the information provided by the PCSO central system.

In affirming the trial court’s dismissal of Mirando’s complaint, the CA noted that the pertinent documents from the PCSO showed that the draw in question indeed came from Zenco Footsteps outlet which was in existence on March 9, 1996.