THE Philippine National Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation were called upon to stop and file cases against operators of all unauthorised and illegal numbers game in Pangasinan.

The call was made by Royina Marzan- Garma, general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) who was in Pangasinan on March 3 to re-launch the Small Town Lottery (STL) to be managed by PCSO’s lone authorized agent, Grand 88 Gaming Corporation.

In a press conference following the inauguration of PCSO’s draw court at Libsong West, Lingayen, Garma said the PNP. CIDG and the NBI are mandated by law to run after anything that is illegal throughout the country, stressing that the PCSO has no police power to crack down on unauthorised and illegal numbers game.

However, the police are reportedly reluctant to go after Peryahan ng Bayan because the case filed by Global Tech Corporation, operator of the Peryahan, against the PCSO, has not been resolved by the Court of Appeals. But Garma said the law enforcement officers cannot be cited in contempt of court citing several cases filed by law enforcement agencies in other parts of the country.

Garma said Global Tech’s contract to operate a numbers game in Pangasinan has not been renewed by the PCSO for various violations of its contract signed with PCSO, adding the P71 million bond deposited by Global Tech with PCSO is on hold.

Meanwhile, the authorization granted by PCSO to Grand 88 is only to collect the bets and pay prizes to winning numbers. The draw of the winning numbers conducted by the PCSO three times daily and can be viewed livestream and can be accessed on Facebook.

 

Garma called on Pangasinenses to support STL as the government today is in badly need of revenues to support its charity programs. (Leonardo Micua)

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