Congratulations to the two Lotto winners of P126.1 million of the Grand Lotto 6/55 last Saturday (May 19), the latest in the long list of millionaires produced by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The winning numbers are 12-55-10-05-43-19.
The two winners bought their tickets from two different Lotto outlets in Binan and Calauan in Laguna. May they use their winnings wisely to better their lives. May they also continue to exhibit charity in all that they do.
For the information of the public, from the P20 that you pay for your jackpot ticket, P6 automatically goes to the Charity fund of PCSO. Whether you win or not, you are assured that there is an existing fund that you and other people may benefit from in times of need for financial assistance for matters, such as medication, hospitalization, operation, dialysis treatment, chemotherapy and many others that form part of PCSO’s charitable services.
PCSO’s funds do not come from the people’s tax and it is not included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). The agency’s funds are solely derived from its gaming activities or the patrons of Lotto, Digit Games, Keno, Sweepstakes and the flourishing Small Town Lottery (STL).
To encourage bettors, 55 percent of the total fund earned by PCSO from its lottery games are allotted for the Prize fund, 15 percent for the agency’s Operating fund and 30 percent for the Charity fund.
In April PCSO’s revenue from its games has already reached P20.8 billion. It earned nearly P8 billion from STL alone.
If this pattern of revenue generation continues under the leadership of PCSO General Manager Alexander F. “Mandirigma” Balutan and Chairman Anselmo Simeon Pinili, it is likely that earnings will exceed P55 billion for 2018.
As Balutan said, “leadership by example” together with bravery, compassion and transparency is needed by the agency to help our countrymen in need, especially the less fortunate ones.
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Once again, we would like to remind everyone to be cautious and not to trust social-media pages that use the PCSO’s logo and name without the agency’s permission to deceive the public. There are people, even ones belonging to the media, who immediately believe what they hear or read. They are quick to criticize the agency without verifying the social-media page’s reliability.
The PCSO’s official web site is www.pcso.gov.ph. The PCSO’s official social-media pages under the Office of the General Manager are Mandirigma Kawanggawa (Facebook Page) and https://facebook.com/mandirigma83 (Facebook Community Page). We are also on Twitter at @pcso_ogm
The PCSO is only one of the many entities that crooks are fond of using in creating fraudulent pages. Their objective is simple—to mislead. An example would be giving the
“winning combination numbers” of the PCSO’s lottery games, such as Suertres, but they use the term Swertres, the illegal gambling game based from PCSO gaming products. This modus operandi usually takes place through text messages, and many people fall prey into deceptions, such as the simple request for load credits, or they are asked to deposit money in a bank account in exchange for the “winning” numbers. This is foolish!
Another kind of deception is the creation of social-media pages using the PCSO logo and name without the agency’s permission. The racketeers post about raffles, giveaways of cars, house and lots, gadgets and others.
Others also create a social-media page using the PCSO’s name and logo to defame the agency. Pages like these do not garner likes and followers, as their ill intentions are instantly evident.
E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com.