By Hannah Torregoza

The Duterte government should consider privatizing the operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) if it wants to eliminate corruption within the state gaming agency.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian offered this suggestion on Sunday, saying this would also help ensure that proceeds from gaming operations will be remitted properly.

READ MORE: Duterte: Lotto, STL now illegal because of corruption

“An alternative to the total banning of gaming activities operated, licensed and franchised by the PCSO would be for the government to just let the private sector operate lottos and casinos and then collect guaranteed proceeds,” Gatchalian said in a statement.

“The proceeds should be remitted directly to the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) to fund social service programs. This way we can avoid mishandling of funds that are supposed to be allocated to help the poor,” he said.

“I-privatize na lang ang operation ng PCSO. Sa ganitong paraan, pwedeng ipagpatuloy ang operation ng lotto, maiiwasan at matitigil na ang corruption sa gobyerno, at magkakaroon pa ang gobyerno ng siguradong kita na magagamit sa pagtulong sa mga kapos-palad nating kababayan, (Consider privatizing PCSO operations. that way, lotto operations can resume but corruption can be stopped and prevented and the government can be assured of revenues that it can use to help our poor citizens),” Gatchalian added.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday night ordered the suspension of operations of all gaming operations granted by the PCSO claiming “massive corruption” involving all parties, including the courts that repeatedly issue injunctions to paralyze government.

“Wala ako magawa. I have to do it. I will not honor transactions that are clearly on the side of, you know, scheming people, [depriving the] Republic of the Philippines, of the money due it. Puro dayaan lahat,” the President said in a special message uploaded on the Presidential Communications Operations Office’s Facebook page.

The President also gave the Philippine National Police (PNP) orders to shut down all the gaming activities operated, licensed and franchised by the PCSO, which started on Saturday.

READ MORE: PNP immediately complies with PRRD order, shuts down lotto, other PCSO outlets nationwide

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, for his part, said the shutdown order is only temporary: “I think he is shutting down the franchises. It can always open once the corruption is unearthed and cleansed.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson sees the wisdom in the President’s order noting how the PCSO has since been hounded by a corruption problem.

“When the regular jueteng collections of at least P200-million per day, or P73-billion a year in the NCR, CAR and Regions 1-5 alone translate to a mere P4-billion income for the PCSO from STL (small town lottery) operations, a big chunk of which is not even in cash remittances but recorded as collectibles, [you] do not need Albert Einstein to figure out how much goes to the individual pockets of STL franchise holders, corrupt politicians, policemen and PCSO officials,” Lacson said in a separate statement.

“ No matter how many congressional hearings are conducted, the palms of these people continue to be greased by gambling money,” Lacson pointed out.

“The fact is, illegal jueteng merely masquerades as legitimate STL operations, 7 days a week, without fail, whose ‘kubrador’ are armed with PCSO IDs to avoid arrest by the police who may be co-opted anyways,” he further said.

Lacson, a former PNP chief, had earlier said that the President’s order was a welcome development but a big challenge to the PNP. “Next to fighting criminals, jueteng was my biggest challenge as Chief PNP because it was corrupting the police,” he said on Twitter.

Asked if lotto outlets should have spared from the President’s “suspension” order, Lacson replied: “It’s like this: if the intention is to stop gambling altogether, then all forms of gambling, including the PAGCOR-regulated games like casinos and online should have been included.”

“Since it doesn’t appear that way, then lotto outlets should have been spared since there are no reports of revenue cheating as far as lotto operations are concerned because they are computerized and automated and therefore closely monitored – unlike STL where PCSO, for millions of reasons, has consistently resisted to make it more transparent and foolproof,” Lacson said.