Widow wins P76-M lotto pot, leaves home

MANILA, Philippines - A 73-year-old widow who shared a P76-million pot for the March 27 6/49 Super Lotto draw left her house in Iriga City, Camarines Sur after hordes of neighbors and relatives from nearby villages began asking her for balato (money given freely by a winner) even before she had claimed her prize, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said yesterday.

PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the widow went to the central office yesterday, a week after she left home. She and a Las Piñas housewife guessed the winning combination, 03-37-10-07-23-05, and became the 32nd and 33rd winners this year.

Larry Patiag, PCSO internal audit manager, said the widow had lined up at the local lotto outlet to have the clerk check her ticket. When the clerk told her she had won, the persons lined up behind her overheard the announcement and the news spread like wildfire.

When people began arriving at her house asking for balato, the widow’s children became worried. She and a son-in-law left the house at night and moved from one place to another until they reached Manila yesterday morning.

The widow told PCSO officials she will not go home for a while. She plans to invest her winnings in a new business and give her seven children money to start their own businesses.