Hello Friends,

I read this story in the official website of the PCSO. The story catches my interest to post here at my blog for the reason that the surfers of this site (LynxJuan.Com) will be inspired to support the PCSO projects (LOTTO Games). Not only to give them chances of winning to make their lives in progress but also to be aware how PCSO and the Philippine government help other people who are in need and their proceeds contribute to our economy out of this good project. Here are some of those stories and articles.

Lotto

Since the beginning of the lotto games in 1995, PCSO was able to give P57.5 billion worth of prizes, producing 1,200 new millionaires, and providing billions of pesos worth of charity to Filipinos in need of medical assistance nationwide.

Lotto revolutionized the PCSO’s revenue generating capacity, said Conrado C. Zabella, Asst. General Manager for Online-Lottery, translating to greater and faster capability to provide funding support for the national government’s vital health programs, as well as improved capability to extend timely medical assistance and services to Filipinos in need. 

During its first year of operations, in 1995, under the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos and with PCSO Chairman and General Manager Manuel L. Morato at the helm, lotto generated P2,631,726,320  in gross sales, despite efforts of some sectors to thwart the introduction of lotto.  Public acceptance of lotto intensified in the succeeding years, more than doubling lotto’s initial gross sales of more than P2 billion (1995) to more than P5 billion towards the close of the Ramos presidency in 1998. Lotto gross sales registered a slight decline during the Estrada administration, with gross sales moving from P6,644,309,680 (1999) to P6,231,261,160 (2000), under the leaderships of Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma (PCSO Chairman and General Manager, 1998), Rosario N. Lopez (PCSO Chairman and General Manager, 1999-2000), and Ricardo G. Golpeo (PCSO General Manager, 2000) .  Lotto regained its upward momentum in 2002 at the start of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Under the aegis of PCSO Chairman Ma. Livia de Leon and PCSO General Manager Virgilio Angelo, gross sales reached P6,922,260,220 in 2001. 

Benigno B.Aguas, PCSO Budget and Accounting Department Manager said that it was under the PGMA presidency, with Rosario C. Uriarte as PCSO General Manager (2003-present), that the charity agency realized its highest revenues.  Lotto gross sales registered more than P8 billion in 2002, during the time of PCSO Chair Ma. Livia de Leon, and jumped to more than P16 billion (2007) under PCSO Chair Sergio O. Valencia.

Keno

Consistent with its mandate to devise revenue-generating schemes that will fund its increasing charity programs and projects, the PCSO introduced the online keno lottery game in 2006. Still in its early phase of implementation, Keno generated modest revenues of 29.8M from March 2006 to December 2007.  It is governed by the same allocation mechanism as lotto and sweepstakes.
STL

In 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tasked the PCSO to help in the campaign to stamp out jueteng and to democratize charity at the national and local levels by introducing an alternative – the Small Town Lottery or STL. The PCSO Board of Directors approved a resolution calling for a test run of the S-T-L on December 28, 2005.  Resolution No. 464 likewise, effected the approval of the rules and regulations governing the conduct of STL in select pilot areas in Luzon.

The new STL is a democratized form of the grassroots-based lottery and charity first introduced during the time of President Corazon Aquino.  Incorporating the lessons learned from the first STL, the new, reinforced STL was launched in mid-February 2006 under a test-run mode.  This experimental feature of the new STL gives it the flexibility to institute needed changes during its test-run phase.  It is a feature that was absent during the first STL.

By operating under a test-run mode for a period of one (1) year, the PCSO was able to adopt changes needed to make the game effective as a local governments-based charity mechanism for PCSO, even as the new STL provided livelihood for those displaced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s anti-jueteng campaign.

The PCSO executed contracts with private corporations for the test runs of STL, with the understanding that a contract can be revoked if a corporation violated any of the provisions in its approved contract.

In late March 2006, the National Police Commission, in coordination with PCSO, released guidelines for STL operations to policemen.  Under the guidelines, police cannot arrest anybody authorized by the PCSO to operate the STL except if there are complaints from the PCSO, local government officials, religious groups, and non-government organizations. Arrests can also be conducted when operators violate Republic Act 9287 or the anti-illegal gambling act.

Under the STL charity fund sharing scheme, revenues accruing to STL will be divided as follows:  city or municipality, 10 percent; provincial government, 5 percent; congressional district, 2.5 percent; and PNP, 5 percent.  To effectively decentralize the use of charity funds, the proceeds of STL will directly reach the local government units. It will go to the municipal treasurer’s office.  PCSO executed memorandum of agreements (MOAs) with local government units on how to disburse the funds given to them via STL.   The remaining 7.5 percent of the charity fund will go to PCSO.