MANILA — The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will study a proposal that barangays (villages) should also have a share of revenues collected from the Small Town Lottery (STL).
“Itong Small Town Lottery (STL), maraming gustong kumurot dito, especially ngayon. I’ll tell you frankly that this coming election, gustong kumurot lahat. Pero hindi natin mapagbibigyan. Ang purpose natin dito is for charity, not gambling. Kung lahat tayo kukurot diyan, walang matitira sa charity natin (There are lot of authorities like officials in barangays wants to have a piece of share in STL especially this coming election. But the purpose this is for charity not for gambling. If everyone wants to have share in STL earnings nothing will be left for charity),” PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan said during a forum at the Sama-samang Talakayan at Linawan in Lipa City, Batangas.
“Napakarami po ang punong barangay. Pero pag-aaralan natin ang panukalang ‘yan (there are a lot of barangay chairmen but we will study that proposal),” he added.
STL Implementing Rules and Regulations provide that cities/municipalities receive monthly 3 percent shares from the STL net sales; provincial, 0.75 percent; district, 0.25 percent; and Philippine National Police, 2.5%.
All these shares are culled from the 30 percent charity fund.
In the first quarter, PCSO has already shared a total of PHP446.6 million to local government units, districts, and the police.
Also in the said forum, Balutan made public the agency’s first quarter earnings of PHP15.98 billion.
The amount represents the combined revenue from all PCSO products namely Lotto, Keno, Sweepstakes, and STL where the revenue generated a 28.24-percent increase from the same quarter last year, amounting to PHP12.45 billion.
“I want to be transparent to the Filipino people. That’s why we publish this [our accomplishments] in newspapers. You can challenge any data na pinublish namin kung mali ito. Remember, PCSO is not receiving anything, any single centavo from the taxes of the people. We get our revenues from the gaming public,” Balutan said.
Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act or TRAIN law imposes 20-percent tax on winnings of more than P10,000 from Lotto, Keno, STL, Sweepstakes, and other PCSO products.
At present, the agency is paying PHP3.59 billion taxes to the government. If one wins PHP100 million, PHP20 million will automatically deducted from it. From PHP500 million tax, the agency is now paying an average of PHP1 billion a month tax. (PNA)
