IF we don’t patronize Lotto, Keno, Sweepstakes, Digit Games and Small Town Lottery (STL), can we still avail ourselves of financial assistance from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for medicine and hospitalization?
This is just one of the many questions I read everyday from the inbox and messenger of Mandirigma Kawanggawa (FB Page) and Mandirigma sa Kawanggawa (FB Community Page: https://facebook.com/mandirigma83), the two official social-media pages of PCSO’s Office of the General Manager, retired Marine Maj. Gen. Alexander “Mandirigma” Balutan. Whether you patronize PCSO’s products or not, you will be given assistance regardless of your social status if you seek help from the agency. PCSO’s charity is for all.
Here is another question: Where did the P52.9 billion earnings of PCSO in 2017 go? Those who ask this question are obviously still in doubt that a part of the earnings could line the pockets of officials.
The answer is that 55 percent of PCSO’s total earnings is allocated for the prize fund or the cash prizes for the winners of Lotto, Keno, Digit Games, Sweepstakes and STL; 15 percent goes to the PCSO operating fund; and 30 percent is allocated for the charity fund.
At times, questions like these can be frustrating because it’s apparent that who asked already know the answers, but they ask nonetheless for the sake of attacking PCSO.
At the end of the day, however, if you’re in dire straits and you have no one else to run to, PCSO certainly would cross your mind as it can possibly offer you help. Worry not if you have said negative remarks about PCSO, or if you have criticized the agency for its slow processing of documents, or if the assistance given to you, your family, or friend wasn’t enough.
It’s true that its income is the money of the people, particularly the gaming public’s, which fill up PCSO’s fund. However, the agency’s fund does not come from the General Appropriations Act of Congress.
We must also remember that the fund given to the sick comes from PCSO’s lottery games. The greater the amount of money received from the gaming public, the larger is the fund provided to the charity fund.
People queue on a daily basis at PCSO to avail themselves of said financial assistance.
Moreover, we must also understand that PCSO’s charity fund is finite. The fund depends on the earnings from its gaming products, which include Lotto, Keno, Digit Games, Sweepstakes and STL. Many assume that if one asks for assistance from PCSO, a hospitalization bill of P100,000 for example, the agency will shoulder the total expense. This is not the case because PCSO follows a system for assistance provision. I shall explain this in my next column.
For those who patronize PCSO’s games, may you continue to give Lotto, Keno, Digit Games, Sweepstakes and STL your support. For each P20 that you bet, P6 automatically goes to the charity fund. If you’re in luck, you’ll even become a millionaire.
Legal or illegal games? People must wisely choose where they place their bets.
E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com.