rltul, mluppurE TWEDNESDAY 3l JULY 2019

Gambling and health

*. lill*"'x"ff^'ii"$;
controlled the illegal STL operations.
Allegations that the PC$o was merely
3(
Fot the
nqlorW
oI tlre
ffiil ailii':1::{ix"i:
"^tH"tlTi:n"n','f:
3f,';i',ffiaitllff:
t"-ili"ria"n1 ftoatieo WWffi
D;terte last Friday W*$SS
GoGo) responsible for
bringing in tholsands
a front to the iUegal STL oPemtions
were aplenty.
When President Duterte came in,
he appointed known whistleblo{€r
Ftlttrttw Sanda Cam as member of the board
cuu" unougil ffi of chinese workers to
p$licized quarrel with
publlc news ira'terial ovir
"u"oino operaie ecssinos played of PCSO. Her
tLat onlA
ca,ratr for itn*x,::,x: I 3t ^.ffi
1il.:HrT#i*Ti"#
former general manag€r Alexander
Balutan and her perdeived clbseness
with Atong Ang did not do well to
;n'* tildffi s* ll'j':"i
tke lotto
dtf,w l*r**};
ii*"" Jesus in ?assv-ciil
".'"',:l$:[""1 improve the imago of PCSo to those
who c ed. But for the mqtodty of the
"rir'"At sunrise ffisf,
President
eaefa -- M. de Y"aLTi
and Paranaque' tnougn Filipino public that only cared for the
and RTVM.
nlght, the following dsy, the Philippine ther€'s still some lost government totto &aw every night, these internal
tlpse squabbles did not matier at all.
tlotiond roU.i *,iinq Armed Forces revenue with the BIR's failure to
ilterrwl oiifre irritppi""s i^ptemerted the proporly impose income'taJcs on the
To reiterate,
ell Chinese norke6' Ftom this scenario,
(( gambling was
swehblas order and shut down iotto outlets
qenb@ seemed justified
dld not over the Philippines' Good thing thts n€ can saythat gamblinC lT gYolved
ot ti^a when no extremely throughout the yssr.s and is here to had afua'As by "charitY,'
,rnt et 4t our specifically funds
""a"
hwe lotto" iackpot was up for gabs. stay- As thot sly in'g6vernment' if beenin
all -ts in
the ilesident in tl|e right you can't beat it, regulate it' cullureaa for its direct
shutting down PCSO operations? For decades, since rhe inception nhDinos. medicalassistance
ne deliiitely has the po{er to do of PCSO in 1954, rvith the enactment tnit"rlo for the Poor. The
so. PCSO is a goverltment owned of Republic Ast 1169, the givernmont haDe been DePartment of
. and conholled corporation dtuectly seemed to be fine with how it's omund Health, currently
repofting to tht Office of the being run' The justification for sinte the under fire for the
Presidentl nowever, this came lotteries was uchariff'n By bringing
as tine ofthe slleged fraudrlent
a surprise with the President's ir a social element in a vice that is So""lo*,
-
PhilHeslth claims
sornehow openness to galnbling as not too harnful, considsring-that and its secretarys
stated in his recent State of the you bet around P20 to win millions' . pu$ort€d conflict
Nation Address (SoNA) whele he this mad€ tfte PCSo very adceptable of interest transactions' said that
laurted Philippine Amusement and and lovsd by Filipinos, as compared aromd P8 billion worth of aid' to
Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) td PAGCoR casinos where you can affect,t6,000 patients, wil be affec't€d
chair inrtrea Domingo for raising easily bet P100,000 on one player/ by the closure of PCSo oPemtions.
billions for the country. He eYen banker in baccarai' Rest assued, the sdministration said
told DominSo -'Magpatugat ka PC$o stafted getting a bad rap that the investigation of PCS0 would
po.' What ie c"n asiotne is that when it 'legatized' Small -Town be swift to allow it to resume without
ih€ President is okay witfi Sanbling Lottery during the time of former a uwhiff' of coruption.
operated but played overseas, not President Gloda MacapiSal-furoyo' It is amusing how vices maY be
plaved in the country the dsngerous numbers game that justified by "charity." lf that is the
"camblins
ca^6tini has always been in toppled the Estrada administrstion case, then let's legalize mariiuana
our culture-as F'ilipinos. Lotteries with conuption sllegations linked 8nd prostitution Fovided the funds
n"u" leen around since the time to STL money The intention in raised by the3e lprofrtable ventures
of th" Sp*i*dt, snd we all heve a doing so $'as good, but it was
llow nill go to some medical assi$tanc€ as
familv member who is really good the implementation was csrried out well. After all, those are tic€s' that
in *inlong, 'tong-its' and "puioy." that was troublesome -Until recently' have stood the test of time.
Cockfrgiitid is troated like a sport the legitimate PcSo--issued STL
"provii""t Ent il; dMntt. d4i aws@ gr til,aorn
in ne wf,"re people como franchised are said, to be conholled
before ilabtos.' by the same gambling lords that
or tln eeh @ dorrzn&ia l',r$.
in anA pUc" bots
o ?-AQn- nl,