Sen. Raffy Tulfo is set to investigate if all winners of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) lotto draws are legitimate as part of the continuation of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means hearing on January 25.
It can be recalled that PCSO General Manager Melquiades Robles admitted in a Senate inquiry last week that the viral photo of a recent ₱43-million lotto jackpot winner was poorly edited. He claimed that it was edited to conceal the identity of the winner which raised doubts and suspicions from the public.
Tulfo also wants to study the possibility of banning PCSO from adding jackpot money from their prize fund reserve for their lottery games.
Notably, in the same hearing, Robles also admitted that last December, for example, the PCSO increased the jackpot money of all lotto games. PCSO added 100 million each on 6/42 and 6/45 while half a billion each on 6/49, 6/55, and 6/58 from their prize fund reserve.
The Senator from Isabela and Davao said this means that the total amount transferred from the prize fund reserve to jackpot money for said lottery games reached ₱1.7 billion.
“Dito makikita na gumagawa ang PCSO ng kahina-hinalang sistema na kalaunan ay maaring ika-bankrupt ng lotto dahil ang ₱1.7 billion ay savings na sana ito ng PCSO na pwede nang gamitin para sa mga charity project nila (Here you will see that PCSO is employing a suspicious system that may result to bankruptcy because it could have used P1.7 billion fund their charity projects),” he said.
“Ang bilyong halaga na ito na winaldas ng PCSO ay kaya na sanang magpagamot ng libo-libong mga pasyente at naipambili na rin sana ng daan-daang ambulansya, wheelchairs, medisina etc (This amount that PCSO spent could have been used for treating thousands of patients or used to buy hundreds of ambulances, wheelchairs, and medicines),” he added.
Tulfo further stated: “Nakakalungkot na ang ₱1.7 billion na ito ay napunta lamang sa iilang tao. Kuwestiyonable pa ang mga taong nanalo sa jackpot na ito tulad ng hinala ng mga netizen (It's saddening that P1.7 billion only went to a single person. The jackpot winners are also questionable like what the netizens have been saying).”
PCSO reassured members of House of Representatives on Tuesday, Jan. 23, that winners of its lottery games are indeed legitimate.
“What can I assure this committee is that the winners are real because personally I have given cheques to some of the winners, so karamihan po talaga sa kanila (most of them) their main concern is their security,” a PCSO representative, lawyer Katrina Contacto told the lawmakers.
The assurance came after the PCSO released the photo of a bettor from San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan who was purportedly claiming the P43-million Lotto 6/42 jackpot.