The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Monday, March 18 said bringing their live broadcast to a pause when the machine used for the lotto draw malfunctions is part of their procedure.

Arnel Casas, PCSO Assistant General Manager for Product and Development and Marketing Sector, explained this when senators asked questions about the “minor glitch” during the February 27 draw for its 3D Swertes Lotto game at the continuation of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement’s probe.

“It is part of our procedure that after announcing that we have this machine malfunction, we will put the broadcast on standby and then we will broadcast again, recapping 'yung recorded video during the alternate draw procedure,” Casas explained when Sen. Raffy Tulfo raised the question.

However, Tulfo questioned such policy saying the agency should have shown given premium to transparency and allowing “the betting public the right to know” what is happening.

“Next time, ‘pag may glitch na nangyari na ganoon, nagkaroon ng malfunction,wag kayo mag- off-air, continuous sa pagbobola live (if a glitch happens, when there is a malfunction, don’t go off-air, the draw should be continuous live),” Tulfo said during the hearing.

“Kasi the more na kayo po ay nagtatago, parang nagtatago kayo because nag off-air kayo. The more nagdududa ang taumbayan (Because the more you hide it, it would seem you are keeping something beause you went off air. The people become more suspicious),” the senator pointed out.

In response, Casas said they will include the senator’s recommendation as part of their effort to improve lotto draw procedures.

“There is provision for continual improvement in our ISO. And with that recommendation, we will include that,” Casas said.

Several senators have previously raised questions regarding PCSO operations, including the frequent winnings of lotto games with huge amounts of jackpot prizes.

Tulfo, nevertheless, said the panel will also look into other possible mechanism to ensure the integrity of the country’s lotto games, including hiring an independent IT company to serve as a third party investigator.

“I will call for the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) and another independent IT. We will invite a third party to check into the integrity of the computer that PCSO uses, and then come up with a legislative recommendation to protect the integrity of the PCSO,” Tulfo told reporters in an interview after the hearing.