Friday, May 16, 2008 Lawmaker wants STL revenue probed By Reynaldo G. Navales
PAMPANGA first district Representative Carmelo Lazatin has vowed to investigate the revenues of the small-town lottery (STL) in the country.
Lazatin issued the statement during the hearing of the House committee on games and amusement Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Sergio Valencia made a presentation regarding the lottery operations.
The lawmaker requested Valencia to provide the House of Representatives the revenue report of STL since the start of its operation throughout the country.
Lazatin said it is about time to investigate the revenue declarations of the corporations involved in the operations of STL because he believes that PCSO and the local government units (LGUs) are losing millions of revenues from the operations.
"We need to check on the accounting of the revenues to make sure that PCSO is receiving what is rightfully due to it, which will also result in more funding for basic and social services being provided by the agency and the LGUs that are playing host to the STL operations," he said.
He said for Angeles City alone, the STL operator declared a revenue of P6,015,941 for the month of December 2007, which he described as "very small."
"How did they arrive with this computation? How would we know if this figure is correct," Lazatin said.
For the months of January and February 2008, the Angeles City STL operator declared a gross sales of P5,670,019 and P5,875,737, respectively.
In the towns of Mabalacat and Magalang in Pampanga, the STL operator has declared a gross sales of P4,077,278 and P4,171,846 for the months of December 2007 and January 2008.
Lazatin said the illegal numbers game jueteng is raking about P3-million revenue a day. He added that in Pampanga, jueteng has reported P20-million revenue a day.
"That's P90 million a month for Angeles City and P600 million for the whole province. Now, with STL operations, the revenue has decreased?" he said.
He added that STL is so far successful in meeting its objective of eliminating the illegal numbers game and providing livelihood to displaced jueteng kobradors.
However, Lazatin is not satisfied with its revenue.
Meanwhile, combined Pampanga and Regional Mobile Group policemen arrested four suspected STL bookies agents in Barangay Lourdes, City of San Fernando last Thursday.
Police Provincial Director Keith Ernald Singian identified the suspects as Albert Gonzales, Jernold Castro, Jenalyn Vergara, and Lourdes Makilid, all of Barangay Lourdes.
Singian said the suspects were arrested during monitoring and surveillance operations at Purok 4, Ruiz, Tandang Sora, and Teopaco Streets after receiving a report about the alleged presence of collectors of illegal STL bookies in the area.
The suspects, according to Singian, were caught drawing the winning numbers in the bookie operations.
He said the raiding team confiscated from the suspects P655 in cash and STL bookies paraphernalia.
