THE group of authorized lotto agents has come up with a list of 33 suspected illegal gambling personalities in Misamis Oriental and in Cagayan de Oro City and has turned over the list to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) last Friday, October 14, for the PCSO to do as it pleases.
Astrid Bana, president of the Misamis Oriental-Cagayan de Oro Lotto Agents Association, Inc. (MOCLAAI), said around 20 personalities in the province’s 2nd District and an initial three names in the 1st District have been linked to illegal swertres operations in the province.
The group also came up with ten names of individuals allegedly behind illegal lotto in Cagayan de Oro City.
"The extensive list includes 20 in western part sa MisOr (Misamis Oriental), 10 ang CDO (Cagayan de Oro) and 3 partial list sa east part sa province," Bana said.
Bana said the names linked to illegal lotto operations are categorized as financiers and coordinators while protectors include the names of policemen and village, town or city officials who protect illegal gambling activities in their respective localities.
Bana declined to make the list public but said most of those in the list are businessmen, village chiefs and includes an incumbent mayor in the first district of Misamis Oriental as earlier bared by Governor Yevgeny "Bambi" Emano.
"Kasagara sa 2nd district sa Mis Or ug sa CDO mga businessmen naa pud kapitan and usa ka mayor pud sa 1st district," Bana said.
"Illegal gambling cannot exist in a place without the protection of the police and elected or other public officials," Bana added.
MOCLAAI leader confirmed that the sales of legal lotto operations dropped anew based on the previous week's monitoring.
Bana clarified that their group does not own the lotto business as they are only authorized agents of PCSO.
Reacting to a statement by the officer-in-charge of the City Treasurer’s Office, Bana said they, being accredited agents of the PCSO, are not required to secure business permits from local government units.
"We are exempted from securing business permit kay naay ruling and explanation ana. We are only agents. This is not our business, sa PCSO ni kami lang ga-collet sa taya,"Bana said.
Bana said individual legal lotto agents only get a five to 7.5 percent share of the daily gross sales as commission, the rest of the collection is deposited to the PCSO’s account.
Bana urged OIC City Treasurer Glen Bañez to seek clarification from the PCSO before tagging all lotto operations as illegal.
"If the treasurer is saying that we are required to get license siya sa tibuok Pilipinas ang gaingon. I suggest that he should go to PCSO to seek clarification," Bana said.