MORE than 90 Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) franchise lotto outlets in the Cordillera Administrative Region were closed by the Police Regional Office (PRO) following President Rodrigo Duterte's order on July 26.
On Saturday, July 27, at least 12 lotto outlets were closed by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde and PRO-Cordillera Director Israel Ephraim Dickson in Baguio City in compliance with Duterte's directive.
"Based on the data given by the different provincial offices of PRO-Cordillera, 93 lotto, STL, Keno, and other PCSO-sanctioned outlets have been closed in the region, which is a 100 percent closure," Dickson said.
Duterte gave the order in a video message uploaded on the Presidential Communications Operations Office's Facebook page around 11 p.m. Friday, July 26.
"I have today ordered the closure, the stoppage of all gaming schemes of whatever nature, however done, that got their franchises to do so from the PCSO," Duterte said in his special message.
During the closure in Baguio City, Albayalde also ordered all regional directors in the country to make sure that no franchised PCSO lotto outlets will restart their operations until the order has been lifted by the President.
"Definitely, all these outlets are subject for monitoring by all our unit commanders and their intelligence officers to make sure that none of these outlets will re-operate after the closure. Although we have heard the appeals by the franchise holders, but this should be directly forwarded to the PCSO. Because, for our part, we are just implementors of the legal order of the President," Dickson said.
Dickson also clarified that aside from franchised lotto outlets, PRO-Cordillera will continue to monitor the existence of illegal gambling operations in the region.
"On illegal gambling operations, this is subject to monitoring and police intervention so all illegal activities will be checked and apprehended by the police as part our mandate," he added.