MANILA, Philippines — A party-list lawmaker on Wednesday accused some local chief executives, police officers, and top officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) of pocketing remittance from small town lottery (STL) operations that are supposed to be remitted to the PCSO.
AKO Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. explained that President Rodrigo Duterte might have been talking about the “connivance” of corrupt government authorities that led him to order the shutdown of gaming outlets operated by the PCSO.
“Ang sinasabi ng Presidente dito is mayroong connivance, lahat nagconnive para maipocket nila yung dapat na remittance sa PCSO napupunta sa, andyan yung law enforcement, nandyan yung top officials of PCSO, and at the same time chief executives of the local government,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
(The President was saying there is a connivance, everyone connived to place in their pockets what should have been remitted to the PCSO which are instead given to law enforcement officers, top officials of PCSO, and chief executives of local government.)
After Duterte ordered the stop of PCSO gaming operations, Garbin filed House Resolution No. 147 seeking to tap revenues of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to help fund the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Sports Commission, which previously received contributions from the PCSO.
Garbin said he is also thankful that the President decided on Tuesday to exempt Lotto from the suspension order, since the problem, he said, is with the STL as its outlets are being used as fronts for jueteng.
READ: Suspension of Lotto operations lifted – Panelo
“Ang nagkakaproblema lang, shinoshort-change ang ating gobyerno sa pagremit ng share sa PCSO and local government units at napupunta doon sa politiko, sa pulis,” said Garbin.
(The problem is they short-changed the government in remitting shares to the PCSO and local government units, and these revenues instead go to politicians and the police.)
He also alleged that operators using STL outlets as fronts for jueteng would not continue their illegal activities if the police and local chief executives do not tolerate them. /muf