ANOTHER anomaly in government which might explode into a big controversy triggered once again by an investigation by a committee of the Senate concerns the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Four senators led by Raffy Tulfo, at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, “uncovered” what many people already knew — that legal operators of Small Town Lottery (STL) owe government some P5 billion, its guaranteed share of the firms’ revenues between 2016 and 2020.
At the hearing, Senators Tulfo, Robinhood Padilla, Aquilino Pimentel III, and Ronald dela Rosa expressed surprise over the huge amount of uncollected guaranteed minimum monthly retail receipts which was revealed under questioning by lawyer Lyssa Grace Pagano, chief of staff of PCSO general manager Mel Robles.
‘It is common knowledge in the provinces that the similar mechanics between the illegal jueteng and STL have encouraged jueteng operators to use STL as a front…’
PCSO Board chairman Junie Cua, who took over the agency in July, said the problem is an operational matter that should have been looked into and brought to the attention of the board.
Tulfo, meanwhile, said it was highly possible that some PCSO personnel had connived with some of the delinquent operators who, after not remitting the government’s share, simply shut down their company and then applied for a new license. The senator noted that the practice “is not hit-and-run, but hit-and-hit.” We might call the STL a cash cow for insiders.
Senator Pimentel correctly noted that because the liability has grown to such a huge amount, it shows that there’s a big weakness in the agency’s contracts with STL operators. Pimentel chided the PCSO officials, stressing that the burden falls on the agency because the STL operators carry the name of the PCSO.
Senator Tulfo also questioned the 2 percent of revenues the STL operators pay the PCSO, purportedly by printing of supplies when the operators receive no such supplies from the agency. He also pointed out that many STL operators are violating labor standards by not giving health benefits to their bet collectors or “kabos,” something the PCSO can remedy by putting pressure on the firms to comply with labor laws.
Aside from collecting the amount due to the government, the PCSO should have charged the unscrupulous STL operators in court, according to Padilla and Tulfo, who presided over the hearing as subcommittee chair.
General manager Robles may invoke the fact that he and his team, along with chairman Cua, are new in the PCSO, having just assumed office last July, but they are now seven months into their positions and should have taken measures to correct the anomalies and management deficiencies pointed out by the senators.
Senate minority leader Pimentel chided the PCSO officials for having allowed the practice to persist, although most of these unremitted amounts occurred during the Duterte administration.
The problems in the STL operations, which were cited at the Senate committee hearing, are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. It is common knowledge in the provinces that the similar mechanics between the illegal jueteng and STL have encouraged jueteng operators to use STL as a front, as both number games are run by the same elite group of people.
Robles, Cua and other officials have a mother lode of work ahead of them in the PCSO.
