Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte accused on Tuesday Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda, the husband of Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, of running a Small Town Lottery (STL) outlet through a dummy.
During the resumption of the hearing of the House Committee on Games and Amusements hearing, Villafuerte said it was Pineda who actually owned Everchance Gaming Corp., which is based in Camarines Sur.
The firm, he previously alleged, continued to operate illegal jueteng games in the province.
According to Villafuerte, he has evidence to prove that Osler Luis Canlas, Everchance president, is merely working as the dummy of Pineda.
He said Pineda had a meeting with mayors in Camarines Sur about his plan to operate in the province.
“Kaya kong patunayan yan, may testigo kami. Anti-dummy law yan, violation,” Villafuerte told Canlas after the latter failed to give the total number of towns in Camarines Sur.
[You want me to prove that? I can prove that, we have a witness. It’s a violation of the anti-dummy law.]
Canlas drew the ire of Villafuerte for incorrectly saying that Camarines Sur has a total of 39 towns instead of 35 and for referring to Naga as the provincial capital instead of Pili.
“Ang capital ng Camarines Sur is Pili, na dun kayo nagbobola … Papatunayan ko mamaya na dummy ka lang ni Bong Pineda. hindi mo alam ang nangyari sa CamSur,” the lawmaker said.
[The capital of Camarines Sur is Pili. It’s where you draw the numbers. I will prove to you later that you’re just a dummy of Bong Pineda. You don’t know what’s happening in Camarines Sur.]
Canlas said that he was not privy in the operations of his company.
“Bagsak ka na sa management structure,” Villafuerte said.
[So you have a failure in your management structure.]
The lawmaker also questioned the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for allowing Evenchance to operate despite having a shortfall of about P1 billion in gaming collections.
Villafuerte said that almost 100 percent of the numbers games in the province was illegal.
The House of Representatives resumed on Tuesday its probe into the proliferation of illegal gambling and the alleged failure of the STL operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in generating revenues.
INQUIRER.net tried to get the side of Pineda. But he has not replied as of posting time. /atm