PCSO-Zambo Sur loses P60-M due to lotto stoppage

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said its Zamboanga del Sur branch has incurred PHP60 million in losses during the four-day stoppage of the PCSO’s gaming operations, an official said Friday.

Raul Regondola, PCSO Zamboanga del Sur branch manager, said some 302 lotto outlets in the area were affected by the stoppage order.

Regondola said half of the PHP60 million losses would have gone to the charity funds of the PCSO.

“The supposed shares for charity funds was lessened due to the four-day stoppage,” Regondola said, adding the PCSO is providing assistance to at least 70 indigent patients daily in this city alone.

He said the assistance include medicine, medical, dialysis, and chemotherapy.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered the closure of all gaming schemes operated, licensed, and franchised by the PCSO because of “massive corruption” on July 27.

The President lifted the suspension of PCSO’s the Lotto operations on July 30, except for the Small-Town Lottery, Keno, and Perya ng Bayan.

Meanwhile, the PCSO official also asked the police to run after the financiers of illegal “swertres” operations, which is rampant in the province of Zamboanga del Sur.

PCSO's Zamboanga del Sur office covers the province of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which are part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), this city and the province of Zamboanga del Sur. (PNA)