Duterte ready to name 10 corrupt PCSO execs

MANILA, Philippines — About 10 officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) involved in a multibillion-peso corruption scandal will be named by President Duterte, his spokesman said yesterday.

Salvador Panelo confirmed the President will soon be naming the alleged corrupt officials in the charity agency but did not say when.

“Let’s just wait for the announcement of the President,” he said.

According to Panelo, the President was prompted to suspend lotto and other gaming operations of the PCSO “because of the complaints he has received.”

Panelo said the mounting complaints forced the President to intervene and order the suspension of PCSO operations until after an investigation is conducted.

PCSO general manager Royina Garma earlier revealed to the President her concerns on the various anomalies in the agency’s small town lottery (STL) operations.

Duterte on Wednesday lifted the suspension on lotto but stood firm against the STL and other gaming operations of the PCSO.

Garma said the President was prevailed upon to lift the ban on lotto after an initial investigation revealed there were no irregular activities in its operation.

Panelo reiterated the President is serious in addressing corruption in the agency, even if it has lost about P250 million in revenues.

Garma earlier said the agency lost that much during the four-day suspension of lotto since Friday.

But Panelo said the money is still there waiting to be collected.

“It was not lost during the four-day suspension. The government collection was only delayed,” he said.

When the President declared he is investigating corruption activities at PCSO, Panelo said the order included all aspects, possibly including Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s claim that retired police and military officers are benefitting from the corruption activities.

“All of those claims will be investigated by the President. He doesn’t have to mention it, when he says, I’m investigating it, it involves everything and anything that will go against the rules, against the law,” Panelo said.

Lacson said he has information that would indicate retired police and military officers who are gaming franchise holders are not remitting their collections to the PCSO.

Lacson revealed Garma had told the President that an STL franchise holder had refused to pay a winner and instead sold his franchise. He added the new franchise holder also failed or refused to pay the winner.

“So they kept on betting but the bet collections are not remitted, it’s useless,” Lacson said.

Lacson said reports persisted that many STL franchise holders are shortchanging the government by not remitting to PCSO the supposed share of the agency from their operations.

Lacson also revealed many STL franchise holders were retired police and military officers familiar with jueteng operations, an illegal numbers game, and how to go around PCSO policies.

“These retired police and military officers have STL franchises but are named for their dummies,” Lacson said.

Some STL franchise holders are also jueteng operators, he added.

“Instead of remitting the proper share, they don’t remit entirely. In fact, some of those remitting are the jueteng operators who are also STL franchise holders,” Lacson said.  

Although the PCSO has reported some P4 billion in revenue in a month, Lacson said some of the money remain collectibles.

“There was no actual money. They are collectibles. The PCSO says it has earned P4 billion in revenues but where is the money?... Collectibles,” Lacson said.

Lacson agreed corruption is a big issue in the PCSO, particularly in STL. 

Lacson mentioned the Senate investigation he presided over in 2017 showed the daily collection of STL and jueteng operations in Luzon, particularly in Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region and Regions 1-5 was P200 million a day, or at least P72 billion a year.

Lacson said the creation of the STL to defeat jueteng became irrelevant.

“Jueteng is masquerading as STL. There goes the problem. The public knows your operation but you cannot be arrested. In many cases, the police would not want to arrest a jueteng bet collector if he has an ID of the PCSO,” he said.

When asked what could be the solution to the massive corruption in the PCSO, Lacson replied, “As in any agency of government, the important thing is consistency. No double standard,” he said. –   Cecille Suerte Felipe