PCSO to expand charity operations

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office plans to widen the reach of its operations in 2012 by setting up  offices in Mindanao and other places where poor residents could use the financial assistance the agency provides for citizens in need.

Aside from increasing its projected revenue for the coming year to allow more people to benefit from its charity projects, PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the agency wants to be closer to intended beneficiaries by opening up “more provincial district offices and sub-offices, especially in Mindanao.”

“PCSO will continue to serve the Filipino people’s medical and health-related concerns, especially during times of calamities,” he said in a statement. “In order to do this more effectively, we shall be expanding PCSO’s revenues from games and we ask the public’s support for this.”

The agency quickly disbursed calamity assistance to the people of Northern Mindanao who were ravaged by Tropical Storm Sendong in mid-December, Rojas said.

The PCSO board released P1 million for the purchase of relief goods which were distributed in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and at least three towns in Misamis Oriental. A portion of the money was spent on medicines.

The agency also has committed to shoulder the medical expenses of patients in government hospitals who survived Sendong’s onslaught. It set aside endowment funds at two government hospitals—P4.8 million at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City, and P250,000 for medicines at  Gregorio Lluch Memorial Hospital in Iligan City.

In PCSO’s year-end report, Rojas said the agency managed to generate over P31 billion through its hugely popular lottery games and other gambling activities like sweepstakes and horse races.

The various lottery games continued to be PCSO’s  highest-grossing endeavor as in the past years, earning P26.4 billion in tickets sold at over 5,400 terminals.

Throughout the year, some 124 persons hit the jackpot in the 6/42 Lotto, 6/45 SuperLotto and 6/55 Grand Lotto draws.

The year 2011 also saw the rise in popularity of Keno, a computerized numbers game widely played in Las Vegas casinos. The PCSO’s Keno grossed nearly P600 million in tickets sold.

Nine agency-sponsored horse races earned a total of over P3 million, while the traditional sweepstakes draw the PCSO called “Freedom Draw” grossed nearly P11 million in ticket sales.

With the positive outcome of the sweepstakes draw, the PCSO plans to hold another draw in February 2012 which it is calling the “People Power Draw.”