With no less than a former Supreme Court justice identifying the legal infirmities in authorizing private corporations to conduct small town lottery (STL) operation in the provinces, and with employees of these authorized agent corporations (AACs) contributing to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Isabela, the province’s youngest solon reiterated calls for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to suspend STL operations until the House completes its ongoing inquiry.
Isabela 6th District Rep. Inno Dy V on Thursday pointed out that “suspending STL operations in Isabela is the prudent thing to do given all the points that were raised in the hearing held last Wednesday by the House committees of Games and Amusement and Good Government and Public Accountability.”
“STL operations constitute a public health threat, and the numbers illustrate this point.”
“STL operations constitute a public health threat, and the numbers illustrate this point; of the 601 individuals in Cauayan that have contracted COVID-19, 188 or 31% are employed by STL ops,” revealed Dy.
“The PCSO should heed the motion of Isabela 1st District Rep. Antonio “Tonypet” Albano to cease operations.”
Dy added that as of February 8, 2021, Cauayan City has already recorded a total of 601 positive covid cases since March 26th of last year, “and of this number, 188 or 31% of these cases are employed through the operations of Small Town Lotteries,.”
“In San Mariano, of the 199 people who have caught the disease, 117 or 59% were employed by STL operations. This is not a coincidence and nor is it bad luck; clearly, the conduct of STL operations exposes its workers to a higher risk of getting infected––and these are the same personnel who go around Isabela collecting bets from house to house,” lamented Dy.
“Di lang sila nangongolekta ng pusta––nagkakalat din sila ng virus.”
According to the lawmaker, the PCSO should heed the motion of Isabela 1st District Rep. Antonio “Tonypet” Albano to cease operations, as many of their colleagues as well as League of Provinces National President and Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco, Jr. have pointed out that the PCSO is violating its own charter by entering into agreements with AACs to conduct STL operations on its behalf.
At the inquiry last Wednesday, Albano pointed out “Gov. Presbi Velasco has already said––because he’s a former Supreme Court Justice and knows the law very well––meron pong illegality ang paggawa nitong AACs. May we a request, with a motion, to ask PCSO to stop operations first in the province of Isabela pending the outcome of his investigation.”
Velasco had earlier stated that “the operations of the AACs are in clear and blatant violation of Section 1 of Republic Act 1169.”
The retired jurist explained that the PCSO’s practice of giving permits and licenses to AACs is a clear violation of RA 1169 as AACs are private entities, “and since PCSO is only authorized to hold and conduct lotteries by itself, then it cannot go into any arrangement or joint venture agreement with the AACs.”