PCSO says confidential fund used in going after illegal gambling

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is using its confidential fund to go after illegal gambling operations, an official of the state-run agency told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Speaking during PCSO’s presentation of its expected P58 billion worth of sales for 2024 before the House Committee on Appropriations , Executive Assistant Reymar Santiago of the PCSO General Manager's Office said the fund is usually spent on information gathering. 

Santiago made the disclosure when asked by Surigao del Norte Representative Ace Barbers on PCSO's policy against illegal gambling, given that it is part of the agency's mandate to aid the government in stamping out illegal gambling operations.

"There is no particular policy for that. We do coordination... the information we receive, we coordinate them to the law enforcement agencies because PCSO does not have law enforcement power," Santiago said. 

"The information that we gather, if we talk about policy decisions, we have a budget for this from the confidential fund from which we gather information regarding illegal gambling activities in the provinces," he added. 

"This is being processed by the management and they coordinate it with law enforcement agencies. This move will help eradicate illegal gambling activities."

PCSO Assistant General Manager Lauro Patiag said the agency has P100 million in confidential funds for 2023, of which P25 million has been spent so far. 

The low utilization rate did not sit well with Barbers. 

"If they have a confidential fund for the purpose of assisting the government in eradicating illegal gambling, they are not performing well. It is logical to say that the proliferation of illegal gambling in the country is because of lax policy on this," Barbers said.

Barbers noted that Small Town Lottery (STL) is being used as a front for the illegal numbers game called "swertres" particularly in Mindanao and the Visayas.

"In what way are you utilizing your confidential fund for this?" the lawmaker asked. 

Patiag said he is not competent to answer the question since the confidential fund is under the jurisdiction of the Office of the General Manager.

He also said the PCSO's use of confidential fund is in compliance with Joint Circular 2015 issued by the Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, and the Governance Commission for Government Owned and Controlled Corporations.

Barbers then asked the PCSO to submit a report on how it is using its confidential fund in going after illegal gambling activities. —KBK, GMA Integrated News