Officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office on Thursday said they are open to any investigation on the millions of pesos allegedly spent by the agency’s for its Christmas party that was held in a five-star hotel. PCSO chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz refuted the claims of newly-appointed board member and former jueteng whistleblower Sandra Cam’s claim that the agency spent around P10 million for its annual Christmas Party, saying that the exact amount was only P6 million that was approved by the Budget department.
“Yung P10 million po na figure, it’s an exaggerated [figure],” Corpuz said.
PCSO general manager Balutan said that the bulk of the remaining amount, or P8 million, was added to the agency’s calamity fund for the areas affected by Typhoon ‘‘Urduja.’’
The P6 million meanwhile, went to the 1,500 PCSO employees as raffle and cash prizes for performances.
The winning group received P200,000; followed by P150,000, P100,000 for the second and third prizes, respectively; and P50,000 each to the groups that bagged fourth and fifth places.
As an agency with nationwide operations, Corpuz likewise defended the choice of venue, the ballroom of Edsa Shangri-La Hotel near the agency’s head office in Mandaluyong—which is the only venue that can accommodate all of PCSO’s 1,580 employees.
“Ganito po ‘yun, it’s a Christmas party for the whole employees of the PCSO that’s about 1,580. Hindi lang naman sa head office ‘yan. There’s no any venue that can accommodate that much na malapit sa opisina namin,” he said.
Balutan said the PCSO employees deserved that kind of party and added that the five-star hotel was not even big enough to fit all of them.
“[They] worked hard to raise PCSO earnings from P37.4 billion to P51 billion by the end of 2017, a record high in history,” he said.
“We also have to take care of the employees stripped of their Christmas bonuses and 13th month pay. What they get are only basic salaries,” he added.
In a Palace news briefing, Malacañang refrained from commenting on the reported P6-million Christmas party of the PCSO, adding it will not slip past the watchful eye of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I have no information yet. I think you know that the President does not tolerate extravagance so we do not know yet. I’m sure the President will look into the matter,” Palace Spokesman Harry Roque said.
“As you know, he’s very sensitive to what is reported by his own people in the different branches of government. Let’s just say that, with or without an order, the President takes heed,” he added.
Roque said he is not sure if the said amount, whether P10 million or P6 million, can be called extravagant as Cam claims, considering the number of employees the PCSO has nationwide.
He assured that he will communicate with both Cam and Balutan before making further comments.
“We don’t know. Because we do not know how big that party was considering that PCSO is a nationwide organization,” Roque said.
“We’ll have to verify because the information just came out yesterday. I will formally communicate with both the general manager and director Sandra Cam,” he added.
“Let me check first, okay? What the breakdown of six million is and let me confer with the President,” he continued.
Top ranking PCSO officials had beefed up their pronouncements to the newly-appointed PCSO board member who, in a flash of arrogance, claimed in a press conference that she was “the only one capable to expose illegal STL operations.”
Cam, noted for her closeness to gambling lord Charlie “Atong” Ang, said her objective was “to eradicate corruption and this agency (PCSO) has a lot of those.”
Cleaning up the PCSO, as Cam boasted, as part of its operation, Balutan said.