PCSO: STL legal despite Speaker’s opposition

The state-run Philippine Charity Sweeptakes Office (PCSO) has maintained it would continue implementing the small town lottery (STL) unless told to stop by President Duterte himself.

The PCSO’s statement, issued on Monday, was in response to House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s earlier assertion that STL was illegal.

“When the President tells us to stop, then we will stop,” the agency added.

PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan said he respected the opinion of Alvarez, but stressed that the agency was only answerable to Mr. Duterte, who in February signed the agency’s enabling law that explicitly said it was only answerable to the President.