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Friday, March 29, 2024

STL owners defy Duterte–PCSO

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None of the 87 small town lottery authorized agent corporations have complied with the conditions set by President Rodrigo Duterte almost a week after the Chief Executive lifted the ban on the numbers game.

STL owners defy Duterte–PCSO
BE WARNED. PCSO General Manager Royina Garma has warned STL operators not to resume their operations, after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered on July 26 the suspension of STL operations nationwide due to reported irregularities and ‘massive corruption’ but lifted the suspension on Aug. 22 provided the Authorized Agent Corporations comply with certain requirements. 

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Royina Garma warned all STL AACs not to resume their operations as she called on the Philippine National Police to run after those defying the order.

“For now, though the President has lifted the suspension, no STL AAC has complied with the requirements, yet. So, therefore, we have not issued any certification for them to resume their operations,” the PCSO official told lawmakers in a briefing with the House of Representatives’ Games and Amusement Committee.

Duterte on July 26 ordered the suspension of STL operations nationwide due to reported irregularities and “massive corruption” but some AACs reportedly continued with their daily draws.

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He lifted the suspension on Aug. 22 provided the AACs comply with certain requirements, including handing over to the PCSO a cash deposit apart from their existing cash bonds and posting of another bond equivalent to three months of the agency’s share in guaranteed minimum monthly retail receipts.

The STL AACs are also expected to execute a written undertaking that they will comply with their obligations under their STL contracts with the PCSO.

Garma earlier disclosed that almost P1.25 billion were lost from PCSO’s total revenue this year with the month-long suspension of STL operations.

She said the amount represented around five percent of the agency’s projected 2019 total revenue of P25 billion.

For the first six months of the year, more than half of PCSO’s total revenue came from the STL, she said.

For her part, PCSO board member Sandra Cam hit the House panel for swiftly adjourning the hearing, saying this robbed her of the chance to release “shocking” documents on the alleged corruption in STL operations.

READ: PCSO director vows to drop ‘bombshell’

“We are disheartened with Congress. I’m sick, but I came here for this and then they will just adjourn the hearing,” Cam said.

On Monday, Cam said in a press forum that the “mistah” system in the STL has resulted in corruption, with several lawmakers acting as “protectors.”

“Many congressmen are angry with me because they are protectors, but there are no sacred cows for Sandra Cam,” she said during the forum.

READ: 10 PCSO execs tagged in STL fiasco

READ: Duterte sees no problem with cops, soldiers owning STL franchise

READ: Lotto suspension lifted; STL, Keno still in limbo

READ: SC goes after judges linked to PCSO mess

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