Robredo: Government lost P11 B in STL sales

LEGAZPI CITY ,Philippines  – Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday said the government lost some P11 billion in sales from operations of the defunct small town lottery (STL).

Robredo said STL operations were expected to remit P12 billion a year but there had been a big drop in sales from P8.4 billion in 2006 to P2.3 billion in 2008 and then to P1.9 billion in 2009.

Robredo blamed this on the illegal shift of STL operators to jueteng, an illegal numbers game that the government wants to stop.

He even described the defunct STL as “90 percent jueteng.”

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said at least 84 gaming firms, including STL operators, have applied for permits for the newly launched Loterya ng Bayan.

Robredo was the resource speaker in yesterday’s consultative conference on the full disclosure policy organized here by the DILG attended by 518 mayors, vice mayors, local accountants and budget officers from the provin-ces of Albay, Masbate, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.

The full disclosure policy mandates all local government units to post their budgets and finan-ces, bids and public offerings on government websites, including newspapers of general circulation as well as conspicuous places in their respective localities.