Blue Ribbon committee mulls removal of STL funds from PNP

MANILA, Philippines - Amid reports of fund misuse and illegal distribution of revenue percentages to selected congressmen and the Philippine National Police (PNP), three pro-administration senators batted for the scrapping of the small town lottery (STL) by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PSCO), which hopes to re-launch it as the Loterya ng Bayan within the year.

Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Franklin Drilon and panel chairman Teofisto Guingona III called for the need to stop government’s hold on gambling operations during the resumption of the Blue Ribbon committee hearing yesterday on the alleged misuse of PCSO funds.

“I think we are becoming a nation of gamblers and I don’t like it,” Drilon said after PCSO officials explained how they are propagating STL operations through Loterya ng Bayan.

Drilon said lawmakers should seriously consider the privatization of gaming corporations so that the government could avoid the use of intelligence funds.

“I believe that PCSO and Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) can only be used to supervise all gaming operations. I just want to push that this is one of the areas as a result of the committee hearings,” he said.

He also agreed with former PCSO chairman Manuel Morato, who stressed during the hearing that the PCSO cannot issue franchises, citing a Supreme Court decision.

“I fear that the Pagcor and the PCSO cannot give franchises to other gaming (ventures). All the income for the day should be deposited to the government bank, and the PCSO should only be the one giving out commissions,” Morato said.

Drilon batted anew for the privatization of PCSO and Pagcor operations, noting how the government had miserably failed to address the proliferation of the illegal numbers game jueteng.

“It is not often that I agree with Mr. Morato but this time, I think there is some basis at least for commonality of opinion because indeed STL before, Loterya now, I hear a lot of complaints that it is being used by jueteng operations as a front,” Drilon said.

Lawmakers want Loterya scrapped

Prior to this, Trillanes asked PCSO chair Margarita Juico to clarify if the present administration had given its blessings to what is perceived as a way to legalize jueteng.

“Are you saying now that we are legalizing jueteng in the guise of Loterya ng Bayan?” Trillanes said. “Will this necessarily defeat jueteng or just increase the market?”

In response to the query, Juico said the board acted on STL “to counter stories that it is being used as front for jueteng.”

“It’s not just jueteng but illegal gambling activities,” she explained, adding that the PCSO was facing the problem head on.

Guingona recommended that the government should merely discontinue STL/Loterya operations after learning from no less than Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that STL operations are being used as front for jueteng.

PNP should no longer get sweepstakes fund

Guingona also strongly recommended that the PCSO should stop providing a percentage of the proceeds from STL operations to the PNP.

PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo said the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame was able to account for the funds they get from the PCSO, but did not mention how much it received from the PCSO during the past administration.

However, a report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the PNP in 2009 showed that it had at least P65 million in their so-called PNP Sweepstakes and PCSO-Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) accounts.

Bacalzo said that as per PNP records, the remittances to the PNP headquarters were released by the PCSO and were deposited in one account. Disbursements were all accounted for and audited and liquidated.

He said the PNP headquarters had no report or information on remittances to the regions, provinces, cities and municipalities.

He admitted that there were no guidelines on the remittances to the regional, provincial and cities/municipalities except for a memorandum dated Jan. 17 this year that provided uniform rules and procedures for funds remitted to the PNP by the PCSO.

It was at this point that Trillanes asked the PNP leadership to make public the amounts received by the PNP national headquarters as well as regional and provincial offices.

He said the funds could be used to improve the living quarters or barracks of policemen.

No accountability

Guingona directed the COA anew to determine how much went to regional and provincial police officials/units.

“Has the money gone to personnel or proper PNP accounts?” he said.

Citing records submitted to the committee by the PSCO, he noted that STL was operating in Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Angeles City, Batangas, Quezon-Lucena, Laguna, Occidental Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Iloilo City and Negros Occidental.

Guingona also grilled Morato and former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte, as well as members of the present management led by Juico, over why STL operators were directly remitting to the local police.

“Why did the STL operators direct the remittance to the PNP and not the PCSO?” he asked. “Why did you give the control to a person who was not part of the government?”

Morato said he had nothing to do with the STL operations because he abstained from it during deliberations by the board.

Uriarte said she can only recall that a portion of the STL funds went to the local and national police since it was still in an “experimental” stage.

Incumbent PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas III cited a resolution of the former board that allocated five percent of the charity fund to police and congressmen.