TMA SETS ASIDE WAR CHEST FOR JV BATTLE

The long-running battle between TMA Australia to seek redress and compensation from the Philippines Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO) over their collapsed JV has taken another turn, with TMA now back in domestic litigation before the Philippines' Courts.

The latest development in the years-long dispute comes as the Philippines commercial arbitration tribunal declined jurisdiction to hear disputes which the parties had agreed to refer to arbitration.

TMA is undaunted by this latest setback, and is now weighing its options to have its dispute with the PCSO referred to a forum that will be insulated and immune from what it says is the concerted efforts of the Philippines administration to turn a blind eye to the investor’s plight.

The company has now set aside a war chest, which it intends to use to right what it alleges are the multiple wrongs it has been subjected to, and it says, to finally bring the Philippines to account for breaches of its international law obligations aimed at protecting foreign investors like TMA.

TMA says that for coming on 13 years now, the PCSO has done everything in its power to avoid its obligations under the JV agreement, notwithstanding several court orders compelling it to honour and perform its contractual obligations.

It says that in what has become a salutary lesson for foreign investors in the Philippines, TMA on the faith of promises and assurances by the PCSO contained in what was then confirmed to be a valid and binding investment agreement, invested more than $100m in the construction of a thermal paper plant in 2008. According to TMA when it came time for the PCSO to uphold its end of the bargain, by ordering and paying for paper produced by the TMA plant, it embarked on a politically motivated campaign aided by various divisions of the Philippines government which had the cumulative effect of expropriating TMA’s investment and denying its contractual rights without fair compensation.

TMA says this eviscerated its investment, subjected it to unfair, arbitrary and inequitable treatment, and effectively denied it justice by embroiling the investor in protracted domestic litigation.

Ironically, the Philippines government remains a major customer of TMA, which supplies large volumes of tickets for various applications to the country.

Established in 1996, TMA is a diverse operation producing printed tickets, tags, labels, packaging, promotional products, and a host of other solutions including Print Management and 3/4PL. It owns print businesses Impress Colour and Premier, and a number of related businesses including LMA flexible packaging and labels, the ZipBy touchless parking app, and Call Journey AI-powered conversation analytics.