Pangasinan board member recalls ‘Loterya’ proposal

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The proposed resolution endorsing the holding of the Loterya ng Bayan in the province, supposedly to replace jueteng, is "dead in the water."

This, after fifth district board member Emmanuel Carancho withdrew his resolution endorsing the Loterya yesterday.

Carancho made the move after no less than Erneli Dancel, lottery operations officer of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office based in Urdaneta City, told the provincial board that the PCSO did not grant a permit to the Numbers Numbers Company Inc. to operate the Loterya on an experimental basis.

"The PCSO did not accredit anybody, and how can it accredit (anyone) if the game does not exist yet?" Dancel said.

Numbers Numbers Company Inc. earlier had written the Sangguniang Panlalawigan requesting for the passage of a resolution endorsing Loterya operation in the province, claiming that the PCSO had granted it a permit.

Lawyer Cesar Cariño, a company representative, and Rolando Dee, the company’s provincial coordinator who was the one who had written the provincial board, admitted that they had no personal knowledge of whether the PCSO, indeed, had given their company the go-signal to operate Loterya.

Carancho said he sponsored the resolution to determine if Loterya is legal or not.

When Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, presiding officer of the provincial board, asked him to sponsor the resolution, he said he had no stand yet on the issue so he asked the Sanggunian to hold a committee hearing to hear the pros and cons.

Upon hearing Cariño and the PCSO representative, Carancho immediately moved to withdraw his resolution.

"It’s premature to endorse it… You comply with the requirements first, then come back and we will do the next round again," Carancho told Cariño.

The board members agreed that they have to be careful before endorsing similar resolutions.

Carancho said he had read a copy of the pastoral letter of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz which was read in all the Masses in his archdiocese last weekend.

In the pastoral letter, Cruz, chairman of the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, dismissed as a "lie" the board’s reason in endorsing the Loterya resolution, which was to generate funds for the poor, especially the displaced jueteng collectors.

Cruz asked the provincial officials to think of better things to do other than endorsing the Loterya, saying that the country already has too many gambling activities.

"I have no more reason why I should continue sponsoring this Loterya ng Bayan endorsement. Of course, I’m appreciative of the PCSO for (its) clarification on this matter," Carancho said.

Meanwhile, Cruz, who was invited to the board’s committee hearing but did not attend, sent a text message to The STAR stating "Praise the Lord" when he was told that Carancho had withdrawn the Loterya resolution.

Lambino, for his part, said he felt humiliated when he heard Cruz’s letter read during the Mass he attended in his hometown of Malasiqui last Sunday.

"Everybody was looking at me as if we (provincial officials) were already prejudged," he said.

While he respects the archbishop’s stand, Lambino said, "We have to listen to the proponents as to whether the move is beneficial to Pangasinan or not."

"There are 12,000 or more displaced jueteng bet collectors and as elective officials who care for the physical well-being of our people, we also have to look at their situation and try to address it," he said.

"We also have to strike a balance," he said, adding, though, that he disagrees with Cruz’s views in the pastoral letter.

"Ilagay natin sa tama. While we respect the stand of the Church, we should also understand the plight of the displaced collectors who are mostly poor," he said.

He urged the Church "not to use the pulpit to attack officials because not all officials are corrupt."