Zarate slams Duterte’s ‘unfair, illegal’ order stopping PCSO gaming ops

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate on Monday slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for stopping all gaming operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), saying that it unjustly affects the poor beneficiaries of the agency.

The lawmaker questioned the order against PCSO, saying the move is “unfair and illegal.”

“If the corrupt people involved are President Duterte’s appointees then he should have sacked these officials and overhaul the said office. But what is happening now is that he is punishing everybody, including the people who rely on PCSO for help for their medical needs, Zarate noted.

“The question now is who will benefit from this uncharitable sweep operations?”

Malacañang announced the order via video message aired by the Presidential Communications Operations Office. “I have today ordered the closure, the stoppage of all gaming schemes of whatever nature that got franchises to do so from PCSO … The ground is massive corruption.”

The order took effect on Saturday. More than 5,000 lotto outlets, 13,000 Small Town Lottery (STL) outlets, 2,000 Peryahan ng Bayan outlets, and 400 keno outlets have since been closed.

Bayan Muna party-list has long been pushing for an investigation into the PCSO operations and calling for reforms, but all “fell on deaf ears.”

Last year, the party-list filed House Resolution 1599 seeking an investigation into various anomalies involving the PCSO—including the “lavish” P9.8 million PCSO Christmas party at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel on December 19, and an allotment of only P2 billion to the charity fund out of the P18 billion in revenue from STL.

The resolution also wanted to investigate allegations that STL operators were only declaring 15% to 20% of the actual revenue, and that 80% of are supposedly paying off high-ranking officials of the PCSO.

“But again, Malacañang did not do an overhaul of the office and maintained its military appointees, just like now,” Zarate said.

Just last SONA (State of the Nation Address, President Duterte said that his military and police appointees are not corrupt but the incidents in the BOC (Bureau of Customs), PCSO and other agencies are telling otherwise,” he added. —Erwin Colcol/VDS, GMA News