‘Jueteng’ gone in Pampanga, thanks to STL

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office says Small Town Lottery (STL), which employs hundreds of residents, has succeeded in stopping the illegal numbers game “jueteng” in Pampanga province. —TONETTE T. OREJAS

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chair, Jose Jorge Corpuz, said the agency’s Small Town Lottery (STL) has stamped out the illegal numbers game “jueteng” in Pampanga province since it was introduced in 2006.

“Pampanga is the lair of STL. It was here that the legal game was started. STL is the only [form of] legal gambling. There is no illegal gambling in Pampanga,” Corpuz said in a program here on Thursday.

The administration of President Corazon Aquino introduced the STL as an antidote to jueteng. After a scandal that led to the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo revived STL in 2005.

Previous Senate investigations identified Rodolfo Pineda, the husband of incumbent Gov. Lilia Pineda, as a jueteng financier, an allegation he had denied.

STL in Pampanga is operated by Suncove Corp., headed by Dr. Eder Dizon, according to PCSO records.

Income from STL is expected to triple from P6.4 billion in 2016 to P18 billion by the end of 2017 after the PCSO increased the number of agent-corporations from 18 to 92.

Of the 92 corporations allowed to operate STL, 72 are active, including a firm in Basilan where the operator earns P500,000 a month.

“Imagine this: If a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group bets on STL and wins, he may quit from kidnapping activities,” Corpuz said.

At least 30 percent of STL proceeds go to charities.

Corpuz was here to receive from Pineda the keys to a two-story building at the Diosdado Macapagal Regional Government Center which PCSO would use rent-free for 50 years. PCSO runs a cramped office near a market in Mabalacat City.

Corpuz said Pampanga was the first to reply to a request made by the PCSO to local governments to provide rent-free offices as the agency began cost-cutting measures in 2014.

Local offices help the needy avail themselves of the agency’s charities that are being funded by STL revenues, he said.

The building was constructed using a P10-million provincial fund. The provincial government is also constructing for the PCSO a P4.1-million warehouse beside the new building.

Pineda said supporting PCSO is also the provincial government’s way of reciprocating the P1.2-billion aid given by the agency to public hospitals and poor residents in Pampanga since 2010. —TONETTE OREJAS