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Friday, March 29, 2024

48 lawmakers call for Sandra Cam’s resignation

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Forty-eight lawmakers on Tuesday called for the resignation of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board member Sandra Cam.

In filing House Resolution 1777, Representatives Arnolfo Teves Jr. of Negros Oriental, Danilo Suarez of Quezon and Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte and several other lawmakers pushed for Cam’s removal from office for her alleged “contemptuous and threatening” remarks against certain lawmakers during a congressional hearing conducted by the House committee on games and amusement on the alleged failure of small town lottery operations of the PCSO.

At a congressional hearing last Feb. 8, Teves threatened to cite in contempt Cam owing to her allegations that the small town lottery operations are being used by gambling lords as “front” to illegal gambling, and that Teves himself was involved in it.

“Any and all guests and resource persons in any Committee hearing should at all times accord all members of the House due respect by reason of their positions as duly-elected public officers, accord due respect to the House of Representatives as an institution, observe proper decorum and refrain from exhibiting any unethical and/or contemptuous and threatening remarks against Hon. Arnolfo A. Teves Jr.,” the resolution said.

Teves earlier said Cam must substantiate her claims even as he cried foul over the accusation that the PCSO was shortchanging the revenues supposedly earned from the STL due to illegal numbers game.

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Cam said that an estimated P5 million has not been declared by STL operators as their income since 2005.

Cam also singled out Teves and accused him of running an STL operations in his province.

But Teves said he will resign if Cam is able to come up with evidence that will back up her clams. Otherwise, Cam should be the one to resign for peddling false accusations.

“I was accused of being an operator, then Sandra [Cam] must be able to submit before this committee evidence that will prove that I am. If she does, and is able to substantiate her claims, then I will resign. If not, she must resign as director of the PCSO,” Teves earlier said.

Meanwhile, the PCSO through its Charity Assistance Department has reported on Tuesday that the agency spent P797.6 million for the Individual Medical Assistance Program in February.

“Of the P797.6 million, PCSO Head Office released P450.1 million for 13,299 cases; while the Branch Offices released P347.5 million for 28,272 cases,” said PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan.

Compared with February last year, the IMAP allocation of PCSO Head Office rose by 25.8 percent from P357.7 million to P450.1 million, serving from 10,533 cases to P13,299 cases.

As for the Branch Offices, it rose by 30.89 percent from P265.5 million to P347.5 million, serving from 21,833 cases to 28,201 cases this year.

Balutan reported that of all the cases received at the Head Office, hospitalization or confinement had the highest amount spent in February at P185.7 million for 4,766 cases, followed by chemotherapy at P129.5 million for 2,784 cases, and requests for medicines at P55.5 million for 3,140 cases.

As for the Branch Offices, hospitalization also had the highest amount spent at P173.23 million for 12,216 cases, followed by requests for medicines at P97.78 million with 9,460 cases, and laboratory/diagnostic procedures at P15.26 million with 2,688 cases.

At present, PCSO has 63 branches across the country with the opening of seven new branches last year in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Catanduanes, Sultan Kudarat, Eastern Samar, Biliran, Davao del Norte, and Ifugao.

“Our target for year 2018 is to open eight new branches more. If we accomplish this, we only need to build 10 more in the coming years and before 2022, we would have established a branch in 81 provinces,” said Balutan.

While hospitalization is the most requested assistance, dialysis cases are very alarming in the Branch Offices. From one case last year, dialysis rose to 915 cases in February this year amounting to P7.18 million.

Meanwhile, no transplant request was reported in the Branch Offices in February as compared with the 12 transplant requests last year.

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