Bataan gov: We’re being kept in the dark on STL

ANGELES CITY — Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia said yesterday he wants to stop the operation of small-town lottery (STL) in his province, but admitted feeling helpless since it is a project of the national government.

"We are being kept in the dark (on STL)," Garcia told The STAR, saying the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) had not formally informed him about the STL operation, which started in Bataan two weeks ago.

Garcia said the PCSO apparently launched STL based on a resolution of the Bataan mayors’ league. 

But Chief Superintendent Alejandro Lapinid, Central Luzon police director, said STL operations were frozen last week in the absence of any guidelines from the PCSO and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Lapinid earlier said the PCSO had informed him about the STL trials in Angeles City and Bataan. 

He said the guidelines were supposed to come out yesterday.

According to Lapinid, STL operations must be backed up by resolutions of the provincial, municipal or city councils.

Garcia, however, said the Bataan provincial board has not issued such a resolution supporting the STL operation in the province.

"It was merely the association of mayors that did it," he said.

Garcia said he has not seen the incorporation papers of the company which the PCSO has reportedly authorized to operate STL in Bataan.  

"I want to see the incorporation papers to find out who are the people who will operate STL in my province," Garcia said.

While he admitted that he does not oppose STL, Garcia said he wants "safety nets" to be in place first so the numbers game would not be used as front for jueteng.

"I want STL immediately stopped in my area but I was told I could not do so since it is a national operation," he said.

Garcia, however, said that if all legal requirements are fulfilled and safety nets are put in place, STL could provide livelihood to some 5,000 Bataan residents displaced by the government crackdown on jueteng. 

Meanwhile, in Angeles City, Mayor Carmelo Lazatin said STL operations have not ceased despite the lack of guidelines.

He identified one Damian Ramos as the head of the Lake Tahoe company which the PCSO has licensed to operate STL in Angeles City.

Lazatin said the PCSO formally notified him about the STL launch, adding that the city passed a resolution supporting it as early as six months ago.

Soon after the anti-jueteng crackdown last year, Lazatin batted for a legal form of lottery similar to jueteng to absorb those displaced by the campaign against the illegal numbers game.

Lapinid said the lack of STL guidelines would make it difficult for law enforcers to distinguish STL from jueteng.

"In the absence of such guidelines, I suppose it is really up to the local chief executives of (Angeles and Bataan) to allow its operations," he said.

He said many residents in Angeles City and Bataan now carry PCSO identification cards.

"What I know is that the PCSO first checked their backgrounds with the National Bureau of Investigation," he said.

"I assume they do not want people with criminal records," he added.