Senate probe of PCSO scandal sought

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima on Tuesday filed Senate Resolution No. 578, calling for an investigation into the internal squabble in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (the PCSO) to protect it against “vested interests” and “sinister machinations.”

De Lima said the PCSO’s image “should not be tarnished and its operations disrupted by internal politics of high-ranking personalities in the agency.”

The PCSO squabble began when a new board member, Sandra Cam, hit the agency for holding a Christmas party that she said cost P10 million.

PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan refuted Cam’s statement, saying the Department of Budget and Management had approved a budget of P14 million but he had it cut down to P6 million.

Balutan also said Cam’s exposé was a “demolition job” so she could become the PCSO chair and allow gambling operator Charlie “Atong” Ang to take over the small-town lottery, a front for the illegal racket, “jueteng”.

De Lima said both Cam and Balutan’s allegations merited an investigation.

She said Balutan’s claim was “more alarming and disturbing” since both Cam and Ang had been linked to jueteng.

The PCSO, she said, should not be used as a “milking cow” of the administration.

“Institutional integrity emanates from the individual integrity of an agency’s officials,” she said.

Cam on Monday filed charges of grave threats against Balutan and five other PCSO officials in connection with two incidents on Dec. 27 and 29 inside the PCSO office.

The complaint was received by the Mandaluyong City assistant prosecutor, Christine Dianne Songco.

In her complaint, Cam alleged that she and her staffer heard one of Balutan’s staff members saying “where is Sandra Cam’s office I will blast it.”

Cam also alleged that while she was on her way to Masbate to spend the holidays, she received calls from unidentified persons who were “laughing like a devil” while saying that her days were numbered.

She pointed to her confidential agent Romilda Amago, 61, and her executive assistant Karen Garcia, 29, as her witnesses.