STL, PCSO crocs must talk now

Small Town Lottery franchise holders and operators, as well as former officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, will have a lot of explaining to do before the Congressional panel on games and amusement.

They have to tell all the juicy stuff about PCSO’s supposed “losses.”

ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap, chairman of the House committee on games and amusement, said the franchise holders and operators, apparently in cahoots with some PCSO crocodiles may have been cheating the government of unbelievable amount of money.

I concur 100 percent that filing of plunder and other appropriate criminal charges are in order against former erring PCSO officials and gaming operators for conspiring with one another to steal money from the government.

Those franchise holders and operators who cannot prove or justify their “losses” should have their franchises and licenses cancelled, and their operations shut down altogether.

I agree with Yap that the citizens have a right to know why the PCSO was losing huge sums of money from the STL, EZ2 and other PCSO games.

It’s simply unbelievable!

These culprits have reportedly been earning some P400 million daily and remitting only P4 million per day.

Holy guacamole, that’s only one percent of the money they’re raking in each day!

Reports have it that franchise holders and operators are just remitting any amount they would want to and the PCSO would readily accept any amount.

I can’t blame Yap for complaining, saying it should be the government that dictates how much each operator must remit.

These crooks have been practically depriving thousands of poor people the medical assistance for which the PCSO proceeds are meant for.

Yap said the House panel will summon the PSCO officials and gaming operators in a day or two.

The crocs must talk now.

A piece of one’s self for common good

It was for every Filipino that President Duterte aired the message of self-sacrifice on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, calling for lending a piece of one’s self for the sake of the common good.

Along this line, we join the Islamic nation in celebrating the special occasion which began last Sunday and culminates on Wednesday.

Eid al-Adha is the most important event for the Islamic world (other than Eid al-Fitr) in which the Islamic world celebrates in honor of Ibrahim (Abraham for us Christians) who was willing to sacrifice the life of his own son to show his unconditional faith in God, Allah.

It should therefore be meaningful to both Muslims and Christians, as well as Jewish and Arabs, all of whom share a common patriarch in Ibrahim, known as the “Father of all Nations.”

Manong Digong’s message should neither come as a contrived lip-service, which he never does. And, it is this President’s agonizing self-sacrifice that he has done and continue to do for the nation that should inspire us to do the same.

“Now, more than ever, we are called to lend a piece of ourselves to endeavors that redound to the common good and benefit the most number of people,” said the President.

Manong Digong saw the dire need for a leader who thinks less of himself and more of the welfare, the common good of downtrodden nation that he answered his calling to run in the 2016 presidential race.

In extolling Ibrahim, he said the biblical account “does not only teach us the importance of personal sacrifice, but also inculcates in us the value of submission to a higher authority, even though, at times, our feelings and emotions compel us otherwise.”

We all know that there are mounting challenges and the clear and present dangers that confronts the country from within and without, even as we take further steps towards establishing lasting peace, particularly in the promised land of Mindanao.

Halfway through his term, Manong Digong has led by example and has given so much of himself as a caring father of this nation.

“Let us, therefore, reflect on the lessons we can learn today and deepen our faith and strengthen our resolve to bring about a society that is worthy of Allah’s continued blessings and protection,” he said.

It is now up for the rest of us to give a piece of ourselves Filipinos, and unite as a nation to boldly face these uncertain times.