PCSO denies rift with DILG over ‘Bingo Milyonaryo’

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) denied yesterday published reports regarding the alleged conflict between PCSO chairman Margarita Juico and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel Roxas II over the new game “Bingo Milyonaryo.”

“It is not true that President Aquino ordered PCSO to turn over supervision of the game to DILG and that PCSO refused to surrender documents related to Bingo Milyonaryo,” said PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas.

The DILG, in a letter to Juico and the PCSO Board of Directors dated May 22, 2013, asked for the documents so that the department “could complete the review of the government’s policy on anti-illegal numbers games.”

Rojas said the PCSO game Bingo Milyonaryo was not yet operational at the time.

The PCSO official said to ensure that the documents would be received only by authorized persons, Juico asked the DILG to designate a point person to handle the request because in addition to the letter, PCSO also received other requests from different DILG personnel.

PCSO complied with the DILG request on June 6, submitting the Bingo Milyonaryo documents to two lawyers of the department.

To avoid miscommunication with the DILG, Juico, Rojas, and PCSO Directors Mabel Mamba and Betty Nantes visited Secretary Roxas on June 19 at his office, where they were graciously welcomed.

At that meeting, Roxas delegated a point person with PCSO regarding the Bingo Milyonaryo and its other games.

PCSO took the opportunity to reiterate their request to the DILG for assistance in suppressing the operation of illegal numbers games in the provinces where the PCSO is not operating their games.

The meeting ended with PCSO and DILG ensuring mutual support to achieve common objectives.

PCSO assistant general manager for gaming and technology Conrado Zabella added that contrary to the news reports, Bingo Milyonaryo is not like jueteng nor is it a front for the illegal numbers game.

Bingo Milyonaryo is a lottery game that originated with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and later transferred to PCSO in an agency-to-agency agreement when PAGCOR determined that the game did not fit their product profile of casino-based games but was rather more related to the sweepstakes office’s online lottery draws.

PCSO lottery draws feature tickets sold at outlets nationwide, while PAGCOR games are based only at a few accredited casino venues.

Bingo Milyonaryo, like lotto games, requires the player to choose certain numbers to play and winning combinations are chosen via draws.