Cam denies launching smear campaign with Ang against Balutan

Sandra Cam and Alexander Balutan (File photos by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

LEGAZPI CITY — “That’s a bullshit lie.”

That was how Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board member Sandra Cam denied the accusation that she and gaming operator Charlie “Atong” Ang were behind the smear campaign against the PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan.

“On the first day that I assumed [my post] in PCSO, it was he [Balutan] and [PCSO Chairman Jorge] Corpuz who bullied me on my first day,” Cam told reporters here on Monday.

Cam, a former “jueteng” whistle-blower, had a rift with Balutan after she slammed the PCSO for staging an “extravagant” Christmas party.

Cam had also told a hearing of the Senate that she would want to expose corruption in the PCSO under Balutan and Corpuz, who had recently resigned.

But Balutan had earlier said Cam was “lobbying out” for Ang to allow him to operate the Small Town Lottery (STL) nationwide.

Cam, who had admitted in public being a friend of Ang, was unfazed by Balutan’s tirades.

“Siya nga ang unang bumira sa akin, tapos wala siya mahalungkat sa pagkatao ko. Tapos indinidikit nila si Atong Ang. Tapos sabihin niya inooperate siya,” she said.

Cam, who was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as PCSO board member last December, said she would not stop exposing corruption activities.

“Mr. Balutan, ang giyera mo pang-bundok, pang patayan. Ito [sa PCSO] giyera ng corruption at habang ako nasa PCSO hindi kita palulusutin,” she said. “It’s a game of generals there. I am not a general. You are a general, but when it comes to corruption, I will do it.”

Balutan, a retired Marine general, was appointed to the PCSO in September 2016. /atm