Operator denials: Baseless, unfair
LUCENA CITY—A Small Town Lottery (STL) franchise holder in Quezon province has denied a National Bureau of Investigation report that operators of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)-sponsored lottery have been defrauding the government.
“That report was baseless and unfair,” Jose Gonzales, operations manager of Pirouette Corp., the licensed STL operator in Quezon, said on Wednesday.
Gonzales stressed that Pirouette had been diligently paying taxes due the government. “Our record is open for scrutiny and we are ready to face any investigation to clear this issue.”
He said Pirouette’s “operation has been aboveboard and being regularly subjected to examinations by concerned government agencies, like the PCSO and the COA (Commission on Audit).”
According to the NBI report, STL operators have defrauded the government of at least P50 billion yearly through nondeclaration of actual sales.
The NBI based its report on investigations of selected STL operations in the provinces of Bulacan, Zambales, Olongapo, Laguna, Batangas, Nueva Ecija and Quezon.
The NBI finding was confirmed by PCSO Chair Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi, who said he had asked the agency to investigate STL operations following reports that some franchise holders were using their licenses to conduct jueteng operations and not declaring actual sales to the PCSO.
Maliksi said the PCSO had estimated that the potential income of all illegal games, including the illegal declaration from STL, could reach P100 billion a year.
Lady Elaine Gatdula, head of PCSO-Quezon, noted that Pirouette had no records of illegal practices in its operations.
Presumptive sale exceeded
“As a matter of fact, Pirouette often surpassed the presumptive sale target,” said Gatdula, who was assigned to Quezon two years ago.
Presumptive sale is the sales target agreed upon by both the PCSO and STL operator for a specific period based on the historical sales index, she said.
Gatdula also rebutted the NBI report that STL draws were being held without the personal supervision of a PCSO representative. “Our representative is always present in every draw.”
STL draws are held three times a day in the Pirouette office in downtown Lucena City. The draw is open to the public, according to her.
“No bet collector will allow cheating of the draw. We will lose the trust of the betting public if we allow that,” Mario de los Reyes, an STL bet collector in Lucena, told the Inquirer.
STL bookies
Gonzales said legitimate STL operators were actually losing out to “illegal STL bookies” of underground gambling operators, who ride on the winning STL numbers.
“That’s the common complaint of STL operators. And we’re helpless on how to combat it,” he said.
Gatdula confirmed the operation of STL bookies, which she said affected the STL sales index. “That’s the reason we’ve been demanding that the police and other law enforcement agencies stop this unlawful operation,” she said.
Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief, said policemen had been conducting nonstop operations against bookies.
No more jueteng
“There are no more jueteng operations in Quezon. What we’ve been fighting is the operations of bookies,” Ylagan he said
He disclosed that some arrested “bookies” operators were “kabo” (bet collectors’ supervisor) of the legitimate STL operator.
“The legitimate STL operator was not aware of the hanky-panky of their employees. The suspects were cheating their employers,” Ylagan said.
Bookies often maintain unauthorized STL betting stations in remote areas to avoid the authorities and employ bet collectors who use legitimate lottery paraphernalia.
The bookies no longer conduct draws but are just adopting the winning combination of the legal STL.
Legitimate STL bet collectors were being lured by bookies operators to submit their collections to the illegal outlet in exchange for a higher commission.
Lopez town Mayor Isaias Ubana II said the local government had been regularly receiving the regular monthly tax share from STL operations.
“Sometimes it’s big, sometimes small. It depends upon the ups and downs of the bet collection,” Ubana said in a phone interview.
He said the money was being spent as assistance to the poor residents of the town.
“We welcome the operation of STL because it is the source of lawful income of some of my people, who were formerly running from the law as jueteng collectors,” Ubana said.
