The operations of the Small Town Lottery (STL) of the Philipine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) are still controlled by gambling lords.
This statement is made by known gambling businessman Charlie "Atong" Ang to the hearing today of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement.
He reported, "simula noong panahon ni Uriarte, naging corrupt na. Paikot ikot lang. Dinesign nung panahon ni Uriarte. Noong panahon ni Pnoy, three years pa lang, pinatitigil na. Pero hindi raw pwede dahil maraming mawawalan ng trabaho. Hanggat may gambling lord… Para sumikat si Balutan, dodoblehin ang actual sales."
(It started during the time of Former PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte. It became corrupt. It just goes round and round. It was designed during the time of Uriarte. During the time of Former President Aquino, three years into his term, he was stopping it. But he was told it cannot be done. Many jobs would be lost. Until there are gambling lords… To make PCSO General Manager Alex Balutan famous, the actual sales would be doubled.)
Ang also denied having offered a bribe of P 200 million a month to PCSO officials so he could take control of STL.
It was reported that Balutan and resigned PCSO Chairperson Jose George Corpuz were offered the bribe.
The deal was supposedly junked because it was too small compared to the STL's monthly revenue, which is at P 1.7 billion.
Committee Chairman and Senator Panfilo Lacson said none of the three or four Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs) of STL were approved and used.
He observed that too much discretion was given to the STL operators so that corruption could thrive.