Archbishop Soc slams gambling, says ‘No’ to STL
PASTORAL STATEMENT
NO to gambling. No to Small Town Lottery (STL).
Thus declared Archbishop Socrates Villegas of the archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in his Pastoral Statement issued on November 13.
“We reject the culture of gambling as a means of livelihood,” the statement declares.
The two-page statement, which was read during Masses in all Catholic churches in the diocese, slammed the culture of gambling that still pervades in the province and rejected outright the plan of government officials to introduce STL as an alternative to the illegal numbers game jueteng.
He issued statement as jueteng was reported to be staging a comeback in many parts of the province after stopping for few weeks following a senate investigation wherein Villegas’ predecessor, retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz, named Governor Amado Espino, Jr. as among those protecting and benefitting from jueteng.
Entitled “Because We Believe, We Reject”, the pastoral letter served notice that the Church will continue the fight against jueteng in the archdiocese started by Cruz.
The Church, he said, “considers gambling as addictive, corrupts the gambler and the operator, exploits and diminishes human dignity, destroys people and kills.”
At the same time, the Archdiocese said it rejects the promotion of STL, which was endorsed earlier by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pangasinan “as the means to stop illegal gambling”.
The SP has already asked the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to provide the guidelines for the operation of STL and to issue a franchise to a qualified operator in the province.
The PCSO has yet to act on the request.
In rejecting STL, Villegas maintained that a government that promotes gambling is a “morally corrupt government”, explaining that corruption is not just about bribes and graft but is also an attitude that started “as an uncorrected habit”.
He pointed out that gambling “started only as a small fire and because people ignored it, this fire has grown enough to burn the whole nation to ashes.”
The archbishop described STL as an “added fuel to the fire”.
“We reject the scheme of the small town lottery to give local officials and police officers percentage shares in the revenue of the lottery. This scheme will breed greater moral evils in government service. This scheme is unfair to the poor bettors. This scheme is deceptive”, the statement reads.
Villegas warned that if local officials ignore the Church’s position, “…we will fight without relent”.
DAGUPAN
In Dagupan City, a firm has already expressed intent to operate STL in a recent letter to the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The council has yet to calendar this proposal in its agenda.
Dagupan is an independent component city and is not under the administrative governance of the provincial government.
AFFECTED CABOS
But even as the Archdiocese rejected the culture of gambling, it extended its hands of cooperation to the local government officials in the pursuit of progress and development, noting that many collectors and cabos may have lost a source of livelihood when jueteng stopped.
He invited the provincial government to partner with the Church and other non-government organizations (NGOs) to promote livelihood programs for the poor and provide family-oriented values education, especially on the dignity of labor and the primacy of honesty in private and social life.
Villegas said this program has been done with success in other areas.
“It is being done and we can do it together,” he said.
Villegas also asked the Espino administration to sustain its micro-financing programs that are already in place in many parts of Pangasinan instead of introducing STL. –LM
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