Wednesday, April 05, 2006
PB members oppose small-town lottery
If Capitol officials will have their way, small-town lottery should not find its way to Cebu.
The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) passed last Monday a resolution expressing opposition to this, saying the games will only add to the “deterioration of our moral fiber.”
Board Member Juan Bolo, chairman of the committee on education, sponsored the resolution.
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is now licensed to operate small-town lottery in the countryside.
“Engaging in this kind of games... encourages our people to become idle and lazy,” Bolo said in his resolution.
He added that hard-earned money that could be spent on basic needs will be spent on gambling instead with the operation of small- town lottery.
Not the first
“Owing to the hard times and simply due to the lack of opportunities for financial upliftment, the temptation to get rich quick through engaging in games of chance is strong,” Bolo said. He stressed that a people of a “strong moral sense” is every country’s asset.
This is not the first time that the board expressed opposition to gambling.
In 2000, the PB approved an ordinance regulating jai-alai betting stations and lotto outlets, which was then introduced by Member Victor Maambong.
It sought to keep booking stations at least 200 meters away from public places such as churches, schools, and others.
“A society built on the foundation of speculations and gambling, living in the expectation of instant bonanza, invites itself to moral debasement and to the vice of indolence,” Maambong had said.
But it was the stand of then governor Pablo Garcia that the PB must not legislate for the municipal councils, which must be given the discretion to make the regulation because of local autonomy. (JPM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 5, 2006 issue)
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