FACTS
Caltex (Philippines) Inc. organized a promotional scheme called, “Caltex Hooded Pump Contest” wherein participants estimate the actual number of liters a hooded gas pump at each Caltex station will dispense during a specified period.
A prospective contestant has but to go to a Caltex station, request for the entry form which is available on demand, accomplish it, and submit the same for the drawing of the winner. Nowhere in the said rules requires any fee to be paid, any merchandise be bought, any service be rendered, or any value whatsoever be given for the privilege to participate.
Caltex would have to use mails not only as amongst the media for publicizing the contest but also for the transmission of communication.
However, there is an anti-lottery provisions of the Postal Law. So, the Acting Postmaster General declined to grant the requested advance clearance for mailing, and if the contest will be conducted a fraud order will be issued.
Caltex filed a Petition for Declaratory Relief to declare its 'Caltex Hooded Pump Contest' not to be violative of the Postal Law and ordering respondent to allow petitioner the use of the mails.
ISSUE
Whether or not the Caltex Hooded Pump Contest is covered under the anti-lottery provisions of the Postal Law?
RULING
No, the Caltex Hooded Pump Contest is not a lottery that may be administratively and adversely dealt with under the provisions of the Postal Law.
The three essential elements of a lottery are: First, consideration; second, prize; and third, chance. Nowhere in the said rules provides for a requirement that any fee should be paid, any merchandise be bought, any service be rendered, or any value whatsoever be given for the privilege to participate. A prospective contestant has but to go to a Caltex station, request for the entry form which is available on demand, and accomplish and submit the same for the drawing of the winner.
Moreover, the Caltex Hooded Pump Contest is not a gift enterprise.
A gift enterprise is a scheme for the distribution of money or of any real or personal property by lot, chance, or drawing of any kind. It is commonly applied to a sporting artifice of under which goods are sold for their market value but by way of inducement each purchaser is given a chance to win a prize.
There is no sale of anything to which the chance offered is attached as an inducement to the purchaser. The contest is open to all qualified contestants irrespective of whether or not they buy the appellee's products.
The term under a construction should be accorded no other meaning than that which is consistent with the nature of the word associated therewith. Hence, if lottery is prohibited only if it involves a consideration, so also must the term "gift enterprise" be so construed.
The appellee, may not be denied the use of the mails for purposes thereof.
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