ILOILO City – Police yesterday have started shutting down all gaming schemes operated by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) across the region.
The move came after President Rodrigo Duterte suspended all PCSO-licensed games due to “massive corruption.”
Duterte ordered the police and military to enforce his order to shut down all PCSO gambling operations such as lotto, Peryahan ng Bayan, small town lottery (STL), and Keno.
Police Regional Office 6 spokesperson Lieutenant Joem Malong said all provincial and city directors were
tasked to verify outlets in the region and effect the closure order before noon on Saturday.
“Those that continue their operation will be apprehended,” Malong added.
In Iloilo City, Colonel Martin Defensor spearheaded the closure of STL outlet in Lopez Arcade, Jaro district, including draw centers inside the mall.
“We are thankful that lotto managers and STL operators cooperated with us and they immediately followed orders,” said Defensor.
In a televised message on Friday, the Duterte said: “All gaming activities, gambling, that got their franchise from government through PCSO are, as of today, suspended or terminated because of massive corruption.”
“The ground is massive corruption involving all, even the courts who repeatedly issued injunctions to paralyze the government and to allow corruption to thrive,” he added.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo also said President Duterte is very much determined to identify those behind the alleged corruption in the PCSO.
“It appears that there is a grand conspiracy among the
major players and enforcers of these government-sanctioned gaming activities
and enterprises to cheat the government of its rightful shares, depriving,
therefore, the masses of our people of receiving basic services needed by
them,” Panelo said.
Panelo added that Duterte was “outraged” upon learning of the alleged
corruption happening in the PCSO, saying that those behind the scheme have
“insatiable greed is infinite and beyond redemption.”
“Let this be a stern warning to all malefactors in the government, as well as
all the enemies of the state, the Duterte presidency will be unrelenting in its
war against corruption and unforgiving to the transgressors of the law,” Panelo
added.
The PCSO is the main government agency mandated to raise and provide funds for
the health programs, medical assistance, and services, and charities of
national character.
In 2018, the Commission on Audit reported more than a third of the PCSO’s charity fund for 2017 was not used for charity programs as mandated by law.
COA said P5.89 billion of the charity fund was used for various purposes not related to health programs, medical assistance services, and other charities, violating Republic Act 1169.
COA also flagged that state lottery officials overspent the charity fund in 2017, using up a total of P18.035 billion and exceeding the net allocated amount of P14.40 billion. This resulted in a P3.53-billion deficit./PN
